The Miracle Staircase
In 1877, after the completion of this chapel for the Sisters of Loretto in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the good sisters had a problem. With their long habits, they were not comfortable using a ladder to reach the high choir loft. They searched and searched for a carpenter to build a staircase which would not take up too much of the small chapel's space or too much of the space of the choir loft. No one could construct such a staircase.
The sisters turned to prayer for an answer. A nine day novena to St. Joseph, the carpenter-father of Jesus, husband of Mary, to whom the chapel is dedicated. On the ninth day, a carpenter arrived, with just a few simple tools, saying he would build a staircase that would meet their requirements, but that he needed privacy, and tubs of warm water. The only name he gave was Joseph.
After his months of labor and secrecy, the sisters discovered he had gone without leaving a bill, nor was their a bill for the wood at any of the area lumber yards. In the chapel was a completed staircase, one that for a long time defied explanation at how it could exist or support the sisters or their students clambering up and down every day for decades.
There is no obvious central support beam for the staircase. It is simply a spiral helix of two narrowly wound wooden stringers with steps between them and a backing to close off the underside of the stairs. The railing you see on the stairs and in the choir loft was not installed by the carpenter called Joseph, but added by another master craftsman 10 years after the original staircase was done. The sisters were so scared to climb down the steps without a railing that they did so on their hands and knees. I don't blame them!
The mysteries of the staircase include the identity of Joseph, still unknown, the exceptionally unique and masterful design of the tight spiral staircase, unheard of for an itinerant carpenter of the day, and the source of the wood, which appears to be spruce, but to this day exactly where the wood came from is a mystery.
Was it a miracle? Did Joseph the carpenter father of Jesus construct these miraculous stairs? If not, who was that miracle-worker, and where did the wood come from? Some things will never be known.
One thing is known, this Joseph was an answer to the sister's prayers.
The Miracle Staircase
In 1877, after the completion of this chapel for the Sisters of Loretto in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the good sisters had a problem. With their long habits, they were not comfortable using a ladder to reach the high choir loft. They searched and searched for a carpenter to build a staircase which would not take up too much of the small chapel's space or too much of the space of the choir loft. No one could construct such a staircase.
The sisters turned to prayer for an answer. A nine day novena to St. Joseph, the carpenter-father of Jesus, husband of Mary, to whom the chapel is dedicated. On the ninth day, a carpenter arrived, with just a few simple tools, saying he would build a staircase that would meet their requirements, but that he needed privacy, and tubs of warm water. The only name he gave was Joseph.
After his months of labor and secrecy, the sisters discovered he had gone without leaving a bill, nor was their a bill for the wood at any of the area lumber yards. In the chapel was a completed staircase, one that for a long time defied explanation at how it could exist or support the sisters or their students clambering up and down every day for decades.
There is no obvious central support beam for the staircase. It is simply a spiral helix of two narrowly wound wooden stringers with steps between them and a backing to close off the underside of the stairs. The railing you see on the stairs and in the choir loft was not installed by the carpenter called Joseph, but added by another master craftsman 10 years after the original staircase was done. The sisters were so scared to climb down the steps without a railing that they did so on their hands and knees. I don't blame them!
The mysteries of the staircase include the identity of Joseph, still unknown, the exceptionally unique and masterful design of the tight spiral staircase, unheard of for an itinerant carpenter of the day, and the source of the wood, which appears to be spruce, but to this day exactly where the wood came from is a mystery.
Was it a miracle? Did Joseph the carpenter father of Jesus construct these miraculous stairs? If not, who was that miracle-worker, and where did the wood come from? Some things will never be known.
One thing is known, this Joseph was an answer to the sister's prayers.