The Santa Fe Staircase

There is a church in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which attracts over 250, 000 visitors every year. It’s a mystery that is 150 years old. In 1872, the Bishop of the Santa Fe Archdiocese, commissioned the building of a convent chapel to be named Our Lady of Light Chapel, which would be in the care of the Sisters of Loreto. The chapel was designed by French architect Antoine Mouly in the Gothic Revival style, complete with spires, buttresses, and stained glass windows imported from France. The architect died suddenly^, and it was only after much of the chapel was constructed that the builders realized it was lacking any type of stairway to the choir loft.

Needing a way to get up to the choir loft the nuns prayed for St Joseph’s intercession for nine straight days. On the day after their novena ended a shabby-looking stranger appeared at their door. He told the nuns he would build them a staircase but that he needed total privacy and locked himself in the chapel for three months. He used a small number of primitive tools including a square, a saw and some warm water and constructed a spiral staircase entirely of non-native wood. The identity of the carpenter is not known for as soon as the staircase was finally finished he was gone, without even getting paid. Many witnesses, upon seeing the staircase, feel it was constructed by St. Joseph himself, as a miraculous occurrence.

The resulting staircase is an impressive work of carpentry. It ascends twenty feet, making two complete revolutions up to the choir loft without the use of nails, glue or apparent center support. Nonetheless there was no attachment unto any wall or pole in the original stairway, although in 1887 -- 10 years after it was built -- a railing was added and the outer spiral was fastened to an adjacent pillar. Instead of metal nails, the staircase was constructed using dowels or wooden pegs. The church and the staircase has become a site for pilgrimages, and pilgrims visit the church from everywhere. Yet there is another mystery – the staircase has 33 steps, the age of Jesus when he died.