“The Miraculous Staircase” in the Loretto Chapel is a New Mexico legend that has caught the imagination of New Mexicans and the millions of Catholic faithful and other tourists who have traveled to Santa Fe to visit the Chapel since about 1880, when the staircase is said to have been built. But even without the “miracle,” the well-documented history of the area and the Chapel is fascinating. Books have been written, movies made, and the legend lives on.
The first Archbishop of Santa Fe, Jean-Baptiste Lamy, was a French-American priest who served in Santa Fe from 1875 until he resigned in 1885. Willa Cather’s novel, “Death Came for the Archbishop,” is based on Archbishop Lamy’s life. A later biographical work about Lamy was written by John Hogan. During the time that Lamy served in Santa Fe, he encouraged the Sisters of Loretto to build a chapel to be attached to the girls’ school run by the Order.
The Archbishop had already commissioned two French architects, Antoine Mouly and his son, Projectus, to work on the St. Francis Cathedral project, and suggested that the Sisters could use their services on the side to build a chapel for their girls’ academy. It was actually Projectus Mouly who did most of the design work for the chapel, a gothic-revival design based on the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. It took five years to complete and was consecrated in 1878. It’s said that the nuns, themselves, pooled their inheritances to cover the $30,000 cost to build the chapel.
The Miraculous Staircase is certainly the main attraction at the Loretto Chapel, but its beauty is very much rivaled by many other features in this gorgeous building. There is a beautiful marble fresco of Da Vinci’s “Last Supper” on the altar. The stained glass in the Chapel is breathtaking and was purchased in 1876 from the DuBois Studio in Paris. The first leg of the glass’ journey to Santa Fe was by ship from Paris to New Orleans. From there on a paddle-boat up the Mississippi to St. Louis, and then cross country along the Santa Fe Trail by wagon.
Possibly due to the death of Projectus Mouly in 1878, access to the choir loft in the chapel was not completed at the time. According to the legend handed down by the Sisters of Loretto, multiple builders were called in, but none could solve the problem of how to build a staircase in the confined space at the back of the Chapel. So, the nuns prayed to St. Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters. On the 9th day, the last of the novena, a stranger came to the Sisters and offered to build the staircase.
Working alone and using only a few simple hand tools, the carpenter built a helix-shaped staircase, standing 20′ tall, with two 360 degree turns and no center support. It rests solely on its base and against the choir loft. Apparently, the carpenter used an extinct wood species (later identified as a species of spruce, not native to New Mexico), and the staircase was constructed with only square wooden pegs, no glue or nails. The Sisters believed that the carpenter was St. Joseph, himself, who answered their prayers and then disappeared as mysteriously as he appeared.
Tim Carter, a master carpenter and columnist, explains that the staircase isn’t a miracle because it stands without a center support or because it is in any way an impossible structure. It very much follows the basic principles of physics. He does go on to say, however, that it is a beautiful structure, and “To create such a staircase today, using power tools and modern hand tools, would be a feat. It’s mind-boggling to think about constructing such a marvel with crude hand tools, no electricity and minimal resources.” Sounds kind of like a miracle to me!
The Loretto Academy was closed in 1968, and the property was put up for sale. At the time of sale in 1971, the Chapel was informally deconsecrated as a Catholic chapel. Loretto Chapel is operated today as a privately owned museum and stunning wedding venue.
