1873. The Civil War has only ended 8 years ago. To get to Lorreto, New Mexico, it takes a long trip on the Sante Fe trail by covered wagon, the railroads have not arrived in New Mexico yet. An archbishop in Lorreto hires an architect firm from France to come and build a planned cathedral for a girls school way out there. The cathedral is finished in a few short years but an access to the high loft is not started as the architect has died.

As nuns will do, they pray to a saint and of course chose the one who they know was a carpenter, Saint Joseph, the husband of Mary.

Now according to the old newspapers, in a few short weeks a spiral staircase is built by a stranger who now wanders in along the Sante Fe trail. The tall twenty foot high staircase has no nails, no handrails, and no central newel to hold it up. This can only be done by advanced and precise geometry to get the forces all correct and would be doable but a difficult project today and almost impossible back then without a dedicated team of architects, instead one lone drifter. The local newspapers say the stranger then left after the completion and had received no pay. He had built no handrails and so the choir nuns usually descended on hands and knees for their safety. Handrails were finally added in later years.

The wood today is found to be of a spruce of an unknown type, so from someplace well off the beaten path. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loretto_Chapel

 

 

 

 

Your report is well done.  I lived in New Mexico and visited the Staircase several times. It insprired  me to write an aviation novel about miracles (A Time For Miracles -Breakaway . Amazon) and the Loretto Staircase..... The main charactyer, Scott Shepard, is a retired, former test pilot for the XB70 Valkyrie program living in Santa Fe New Mexico . He is a caretaker at the Loretto Chapel where the "miracle" staircase is located.  A second miracle occurs there and triggers a personal adventure and his return to aviation. There's a military callup and for him to command a new secret mission for a redesigned Valkyrie. The Air Force has an aggressive combat mission planned but the crew who will fly Valkyrie have another. Another miracle occurs.

 

 

 

 

Very pretty and neat but I almost call BS to these stairs. Has anyone done an Xray to see if there is an internal main steel or wooden beam rail?

Yes they have, well tested. My original post has the link to wikipedia article on the staircase.

Edited August 6, 2025Aug 6 by Fielder

3 hours ago, VeryBumpy said:

Very pretty and neat but I almost call BS to these stairs. Has anyone done an Xray to see if there is an internal main steel or wooden beam rail?

Almost? That’s a strange qualifier.

Every staircase I make it up and down without falling over myself is a miracle staircase...  

I had seen a story on these years ago but I can't remember where for the life of me... 

I feel like we need a Josh Gates investigation here LOL 

 

I've been to Lorreto a couple of times and have seen the miracle staircase.  Amazing!

Noel