In the Latter Day Saint movement, the second anointing is the pinnacle ordinance of the temple and an extension of the endowment ceremony. Founder Joseph Smith taught that the function of the ordinance was to ensure salvation, guarantee exaltation, and confer godhood. In the ordinance, a participant is anointed as a "priest and king" or a "priestess and queen", and is sealed to the highest degree of salvation available in Mormon theology.

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), Mormonism's largest denomination, the ordinance is currently only given in secret to select couples whom top leaders say God has chosen. The LDS Church regularly performed the ceremony for nominated couples from the 1840s to the 1920s, and continued less regularly into the 1940s. By 1941, about 15,000 second anointings had been performed for the living, and over 6,000 for the dead. The practice became much less common thereafter, but has continued into modern times. Most modern LDS adherents are unaware of the ritual's existence. Instructors in the church's institutes of religion are told, "Do not attempt in any way to discuss or answer questions about the second anointing." (emphasis in the original). The ordinance is also performed by many Mormon fundamentalist groups. However, it is not performed by denominations such as the Community of Christ, who historically did not practice the Nauvoo endowment ceremony.

Joseph Smith introduced the Nauvoo endowment in 1842, but stated that his work in establishing the "fullness of the priesthood" was not yet complete. In August 1843, church apostle Brigham Young stated that "[i]f any in the Church had the fullness of the priesthood, he did not know it". Young understood that the "fullness of the priesthood" involved an anointing as "king and priest", with the actual kingdom to be given after resurrection. The first time a Second Anointing was performed was on September 28, 1843, when Smith and one of his wives, Emma received it. During Smith's lifetime, the second anointing was performed on at least 20 men and 17 women. Historian Gary James Bergera stated that the ordinance functioned as a de facto marriage sealing, though recipient Alpheus Cutler (founder of the Cutlerite branch of Mormonism) and two of his five wives (Abigail Andrews and Sally Cox) who also received the ordinance were not sealed at the time. Additionally, Orson Pratt and Parley P. Pratt received the ordinance without their wives. Many of the Anointed Quorum and Council of Fifty received their second anointing under Smith. About 40% of all male recipients of the ordinance in Smith's lifetime were in polygamous marriages.

After Smith's death, and the subsequent succession crisis, Young became leader for the majority of Smith's adherents. In January 1846, he began administering the second anointing in the nearly completed Nauvoo Temple. Young re-administered the ordinance to many of those who had received it under Smith, and he delegated his authority to others, who performed nearly 600 second anointings (some to polygamous unions) before the temple was closed on February 7, 1846. After migration to the Salt Lake Valley, records don't show the administration of further LDS second anointings for two decades (until 1866). Beginning in the 1870s, second anointings began to be performed vicariously for dead members of the church.

In the 1880s, church president John Taylor was concerned that too many second anointings were being performed, and he instituted a series of procedural safeguards, requiring recommendation by a stake president, and a guideline that the ordinance "belonged particularly to old men". In 1901, church president Lorenzo Snow further limited accessibility to the ordinance by outlining stringent criteria for worthiness.

By 1918, over 14,000 second anointings had been performed for the living and the dead. During the administration of church president Heber J. Grant in the 1920s, the frequency of second anointings was dramatically reduced. Stake presidents at the local congregation level were no longer permitted to recommend candidates for the ordinance; rather, recommendations could only be made by higher-ranking leaders in the Quorum of Twelve Apostles. By 1941, just under 15,000 second anointings had been performed for the living, and just over 6,000 for the dead. The church has not allowed historians to have access to second anointing records subsequent to 1941; therefore, the current frequency of second anointings is unknown. It is known that in 1942, 13 of the church's 32 general authorities had not received the second anointing. In 1949, one apostle^[who?] wrote the rite had been "practically discontinued".^{[citation needed]}

Second anointings continue to be practiced in the modern-day church. The modern Latter-Day Saint practice is kept absolutely secret and is only given to a very small number of adherents, usually after a lifetime of loyal service to the church. One British former stake president and former area executive secretary, Tom Phillips, said his spouse and he had received the ordinance before his public disaffiliation. According to historian D. Michael Quinn, both the late church presidents Spencer W. Kimball (president from 1973—1985) and Russell M. Nelson (president from 2018—2025) received their second anointing in 1974; Nelson alluded to this experience in his 1979 autobiography.

Some members of the church were historically or are currently ineligible for the second anointing ordinance. All candidates for the rite cannot be single and must be temple married before receiving it, and between 1847 and 1978 all LDS endowment-related temple ordinances including the second anointing were denied to all members with Black ancestry. All temple ordinances continue to be denied for non-heterosexual couples and transgender couples as of 2025.