July 18: The Miraculous Staircase of Loretto

Welcome to the American Catholic Daily Reader podcast. Today is July 18th, and our story is The Miraculous Staircase of Loretto. On July 18th, 2007, strains of Bach filled Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The music couldn't have found a more fitting home. The Gothic Chapel's acoustics were perfect for Bach, just as they were once perfect for the voices of the Sisters of Loretto, who chanted the church's office in the chapel daily for nearly a century.

By 2007, however, the Sisters' voices hadn't sounded in the chapel for decades. Deconsecrated in 1971, the only people who'd filled Loretto Chapel in the years since were wedding guests, concert goers, and curiosity seekers come to hear the tale of the miraculous staircase of Loretto.

According to legend, in 1878, as the chapel neared completion, the sisters realized the architect, who died months earlier, hadn't included a staircase to the choir loft. Confused, they consulted several carpenters. The carpenters, however, were no help. They told the sisters that adding a staircase was impossible, and advised them to use a ladder instead. As the choir loft towered twenty feet above the church floor, the sisters didn't like that suggestion much. So, they began a novena to St. Joseph and entrusted the problem to him.

On the final day of the novena, a carpenter riding on a donkey appeared at the chapel. He asked if the sisters had any work for him. They showed him to the chapel. The man labored for months. Then, as soon as he finished, he disappeared, lingering neither for thanks nor pay. The sisters searched for him, but in vain. The staircase he left behind, however, was a marvel of engineering and construction.

Ascending 20 feet, without the use of nails or a central support beam, it includes two 360-degree turns and is made of non-native wood. To this day, engineers agree that building such a staircase would be difficult now, but in an age of hand tools, near impossible.

The sisters, however, didn't wonder at their miracle. They expected St. Joseph to deliver, and he did. The sisters' novena to St. Joseph reminds us that God often works through quiet trust rather than dramatic effort. Whether or not the carpenter was miraculous, the deeper lesson remains. Faithful prayer invites God into our practical needs. The sisters believed that God cared about even a staircase in a chapel, and they were right.

When we entrust our concerns to Him, Even the small and ordinary ones, we open space for grace to act in ways we might never expect. Bring one practical problem in your life to prayer today, asking St. Joseph to intercede. Thank you for listening to the American Catholic Daily Reader podcast. Join us tomorrow, July 19th, for another story of faith and courage in America.