Case file · Apparition / miracle
The Loretto 'Miraculous Staircase'
After the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe was consecrated in 1878 without a way up to the choir loft, the Sisters of Loretto prayed a novena to Saint Joseph; a stranger then built a spiral stair with two full turns and no central support, and left without pay.
1878 CE · 35.69, -105.94 · status: disputed
The account
Railings and an iron bracket were added in 1887. Tradition says the carpenter was Saint Joseph himself.
The sceptical view
Historian Mary Jean Cook identified the likely builder as the French carpenter François-Jean Rochas, paid for wood in 1881; carpenters explain the stair's strength by its laminated stringers.