Who Built the Loretto Chapel Staircase?
Wednesday May 28, 2008 8:03 AM
Did St. Joseph mysteriously appear in Santa Fe, New Mexico more than 100 years ago in answers to prayer? According to legend, the disguised father of Jesus built a miraculous spiral staircase in Loretto Chapel, which attracts people the world over. Modern skeptics, however, are less than impressed.
Loretto Chapel was built for Loretto Academy, a women's school founded in 1852 by the Sisters of Loretto. The story goes that upon completion of the chapel in 1878, the nuns had no way to access the choir loft that was 22 feet off the floor. It seemed that an inelegant ladder was the only solution. The nuns prayed a novena for a solution.
On the ninth and last day of the novena, a stranger appeared. All he had was a donkey and a box of tools. He said he was looking for work. The nuns asked him to build a staircase. He brought wood, soaked it in water, and constructed a double-helix wooden staircase using only wooden pegs. He said very little, asked for nothing but food and water — and when he was done, he disappeared without taking any pay.
Over time, the legend has expanded. The stranger is said to be St. Joseph, sent by Jesus in answer to the prayers. The staircase has 33 steps — the age of Jesus when he was crucified. The staircase is said to have no visible means of central support. The wood used to build the staircase — a type of spruce — is said not to grow in the region.
The original staircase had no railing, and some nuns were afraid to go up and down the steep steps. Later, a railing was constructed. Safety concerns were also addressed over time. The staircase was closed off in the 1970s, and iron struts were added. According to officials, vibrations from street traffic were adversely affecting the structure.
According to investigators, however, the staircase had a central support all along — an inner wood stringer that acted like a pole. Construction of a double-helix staircase is difficult but not impossible, skeptics also say.
Whatever the truth about the Loretto staircase, the legend and the beauty of the wooden spiral attract about 250,000 visitors and pilgrims a year. The chapel and staircase are now privately owned and operated as a museum.
The legend was made into a television movie in 1998, The Staircase.
