Jack’s Winning Words 1/22/07
“All rising to great place is by a winding stair.” (Francis Bacon) I saw St. Joseph’s Miraculous Winding Stair in Santa Fe. It was truly interesting, but not as interesting as the twists and turns of my own winding stair. I look forward to the next turn and eventually to the final turn. Keep climbing expectantly! ;-) Jack.

FROM BS IN FL: My uncl jake was an ambulance driver in WWI and married a nurse from N.J., and brought her home to Kenosha after the war. They lived with Grdma and Gpa, and so they had a winding staircase builtinto the house so Aunt Ann could get upstars with out goping to the out side stairs. That winding staircase was a disaster waiting to happen. It did when preganant Aunt Ann slipped and fell down to the bottom of the staircase and unfortunatley aborting, and had a bad back all her life, and n o more children. So much for winding staircases in our family. Damn.

The Winding Miraculous Stairs In the late 19th century, the sisters of the Academy of Our Lady of Light of Loretto in Santa Fe, New Mexico (in the southwestern part of the United States of America) engaged Mexican carpenters to construct a gothic chapel modelled upon the Sainte-Chapelle of Paris. Conceived by the architect Mouly, this structure was built in five years at a cost of $30,000. When completed, it was 74 feet long, 25 feet wide, and 84 feet high.
The structure was almost completed when an error, or an omission, was noticed. There was no means to ascend to the choir loft at the back of the chapel! Several expert carpenters were called to the scene, but they all answered the same: that on account of the height of the loft it was impossible to build a staircase -- it would take up too much space in the nave (the main body of the chapel). As a result, it would be necessary to use a ladder to access the loft or completely rebuild the loft.
Naturally, the Sisters were disappointed, but they were not daunted. They decided to entrust this humanly insoluble dilemma to Saint Joseph, whose feast was drawing near. They began a novena in his honour.
On the last day of the novena, a gray haired man leading a donkey and carrying a tool chest stopped at the Academy. He asked to speak with Mother Magdalene, the superior in charge of the convent at that time, and offered to build the stairs. Delighted, Mother Magdalene accepted his offer immediately.
The construction of the stairs lasted about six months. Certain Sisters who were present at the work site remarked that the mysterious worker had used only a saw, a T-square, and a hammer. They remembered seeing tubs of water filled with pieces of soaking wood. Where he obtained the lumber for the stairway they did not know. The local lumber yard had no record of any purchases for the wood used. When Mother Magdalene looked for the worker to pay him, he was nowhere to be found! A reward was offered, but no one claimed it.
Why is it called miraculous? The completed work is a circular staircase of thirty-three steps consisting of two complete spirals (720°) without any central support. The top rests against the loft; the foot rests on the floor below where the entire weight seems to be supported. Wooden pegs take the place of nails.
During the course of the years, architects and builders from numerous foreign countries have inspected this architectural wonder. They all marvel to see how the stairs still remain standing and in place after more than a century in spite of daily use.
Several experts in building material affirm that the curved stringers had been installed with precision. The wood is spliced in seven different places on the inside and in nine different places on the outside, with each piece forming a perfect curve. Moreover, this wood is of a hard variety which is not native to New Mexico; its origin is still a mystery.
Some people, having climbed the stairway to the choir loft, say that they seem to feel a slight vertical springiness when they ascend or descend, as if the two 360° turns were taken out of a large coiled spring.
Was Saint Joseph the builder of this magnificent miraculous staircase? The Sisters of the Academy of Loretto are certain that the stairs were the response to their confident prayers to Saint Joseph, the glorious spouse of Our Blessed Lady, the model of workers and the consoler of the afflicted. If it was not him, then who was the mysterious carpenter who, with a few basic tools, constructed this unsolved mystery?