關於愛，我是個小學生。

It was in the year 1610 that the Spanish founded a town that is now known as Santa Fe, the capitol of the state of New Mexico. Santa Fe was originally called the Royal City of the Holy Faith of St. Francis of Assisi or, as it was named in Spanish, La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Assisi. It was occupied by Indians, Mexicans, and Spanish and was under Spanish control until a war which placed this area under the rule of the New Republic of Mexico for 25 years.

Later, As a result of the US victory in the Mexican war, this southwest area was ceded to the United States in 1848. Following the war we find the city of Santa Fe having a multiplicity of cultures. Native American Indian, Spanish, Mexican and Anglo cultures provide a rich, varied and very colorful heritage.

Among the Old Santa Fe Trails stands brilliantly the Loretto Chapel. The Chapel was completed in 1878 and has since seen many additions and renovations such as the introduction of the Stations of the Cross, the Gothic altar and the frescos during the 1890s.

Inside the Gothic structure is the staircase referred to as miraculous, inexplicable, marvelous and is sometimes called St. Joseph’s Staircase. The stairway confounds architects, engineers and master craftsmen, which stands 20’ tall and has no center support. It rests solely on its base and against the choir loft. The risers of the 33 steps are all of the same height. Made of an apparently extinct wood species, alias the Miraculous Staircase, the masterpiece is legendarily said to be constructed or inspired by St. Joseph the Carpenter himself, built sometime between 1877 and 1881. It took at least six months to build, and has two 360 degree turns with no visible means of support. Also, it is said that the staircase was built without any glue or nails - only wooden pegs! Questions also surround the number of stair risers relative to the height of the choir loft (altogether 33 steps of the staircase - Jesus' age on earth - the total height of the chapel) and about the types of wood and other materials (some sheerly non-vernacular wood species to local ones) used in the stairway's construction.

Two mysteries surround the spiral staircase in the Loretto Chapel: the identity of its builder and the physics of its construction. When the Loretto Chapel was completed in 1878, there was no way to access the choir loft twenty-two feet above except via ladder. Carpenters were called in to address the problem, but they all concluded access to the loft would only have to be so as a staircase would interfere with the interior space of such a small Chapel.

Legend says that to find a solution to the seating problem, the Sisters of the Chapel made a novena to St. Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters. On the ninth and final day of prayer, a man appeared at the Chapel with a donkey and a toolbox looking for work. Months later, the elegant circular staircase was completed, and the carpenter disappeared without pay or thanks. After searching for the man (an ad even ran in the local newspaper) and finding no trace of him, some concluded that he was St. Joseph himself, having come in answer to the sisters' prayers.

The stairway's carpenter, whoever he was, built a magnificent structure. The design was innovative for the time and some of the design considerations still perplex experts today.Over the years many have flocked to the Loretto Chapel to see the Miraculous Staircase. The staircase has been the subject of many articles, TV specials, and movies including "Unsolved Mysteries" and the television movie titled "The Staircase." In1971, Loretto Chapel was informally deconsecrated as a Catholic chapel. The building is now a private museum operated and maintained, in part, for the preservation of the Miraculous Staircase and the Chapel itself.



Excerpted and rearranged from www.lorettochapel.com