3
SECOND GUARDIAN ASKS JOEL MARANGELLA
TO PUBLICLY ANNOUNCE THAT HE IS
THE THIRD GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA’I FAITH.
In Joel Marangella’s Proclamation of Nov.
12, 1969 he wrote: "It remained for Mason Remey’s announcement on September 21,
1964, of my appointment as President of the Second International Bahá’í Council
(the embryonic Universal House of Justice) to publicly make known to the believers that I
would be the third Guardian of the Faith unless, as stated, I was unable to assume this
Office. In this eventuality and apparently based on his conviction that the world
catastrophe which he had prophesied would have grave and unpredictable consequences, he
also designated the eight Vice-Presidents as potential successors in the order named. Soon
after this public announcement I journeyed to Switzerland where for planning purposes I
felt that the time had come to break the seal of the document which had been deposited
there some three years earlier. The statement contained therein was handwritten at
Washington, D.C. on December 5, 1961, and read as follows:
"Dear Joel:
This is to tell you to tell the Bahá’í World that I appoint you to be the third
Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith according to the Will and Testament of the Master,
‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
Mason, Guardian
of the Bahá’í Faith"
