Beautiful Loretto Chapel, 4/25/2018

If you are ever in Santa Fe, NM, this is one place you should visit. It’s located near the historic Plaza and does not take too much time to see Loretto Chapel with its “miraculous staircase.” 

In 1850 Bishop Jean Baptiste Lamy put out a plea for the Sisters of Loretto to travel to Santa Fe to open a school for girls. Six sisters arrived after a difficult journey (the mother superior died en route) and finally opened the school in 1853. In 1873, the Sisters started the construction of a Gothic-architecture chapel designed by Projectus  Mouly (the son of the architect who designed the cathedral here). The chapel is the first Gothic structure west of the Mississippi! Rosaries are placed by visitors on a tree near the entrance. 

Spires, buttresses, and stained glass for the chapel were made in France and shipped here via the Santa Fe Trail. The chapel was dedicated in 1878.

The architect died before a stairway to the choir loft was built. The chapel was gorgeous as was the choir loft, but a “normal” staircase would have utilized too much seating space in the small chapel. 

Legend has it that many carpenters were called in to solve the problem, but none could offer a viable solution. The Sisters made a novena to St. Joseph for 9 days for a solution. Again, legend says that a gray-haired man appeared at the convent on a donkey and a tool box. He asked if he could build their staircase, and the Mother Magdalen gladly accepted. He reportedly had only a hammer, a saw, and a T square. No nails were used in the staircase, only wooden pegs, and the wood is not native to the Southwest. During the Christmas season of 1879, he worked alone to build the staircase that still stands today. 

Mother Magdalen prepared to pay him, but he was gone. When she went to the lumber yard to pay for the wood, they had no knowledge of it. The stairway makes two complete 360 degree turns with no supporting pole up the middle. Originally, it had no handrails but they were added in 1887. The staircase was used every day for about 90 year and remains a masterpiece of engineering!

The Sacred Heart of Jesus statue and three others are gorgeous. 

The Stations of the Cross were added to the chapel in the 1890s. 

Formerly, Loretto Chapel was a Roman Catholic Church. The chapel was used until 1968 by the nuns and students of Loretto Academy. Today, it is a museum and wedding chapel. 

After spending some time in the beautiful chapel, we visited the expansive gift shop where you can find many religious-themed items. 

There is a $3/per admission fee, but we felt it was well worth it. Just beautiful! For additional information about Loretto Chapel, go to www.lorettochapel.com.