Santa Fé, New Mexico’s “Miraculous Staircase” by Kaye Spencer

At the end of the Old Santa Fe Trail stands the Loretto Chapel. 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. It makes over two complete 360-degree turns, 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, it was constructed with only square wooden pegs without glue or nails… (http://www.lorettochapel.com/history.html)



 
Within the well-preserved and quiet walls of Loretto Chapel in Santa Fé, New Mexico, is a staircase steeped in two mysteries that, for many people, have yet to be solved:

1. Who built the staircase?
2. How is its construction possible?

  

Miraculous Staircase

Orb, perhaps?

The Miraculous Staircase, as it is called, was built during a six-month period sometime between 1877 and 1881. To understand the story of the staircase, we must understand a little about the chapel’s history; the vision of its founding; the courage and determination of the people dedicated to its success; and the unwavering faith of these pioneering spirits.

Loretto Chapel’s story begins in 1853 and ends in 1971 when it became a private museum for the primary reason of preserving the Miraculous Staircase and the chapel.

Here is the truncated version of the chapel’s history from the chapel’s website:

1850

• Bishop Jean Baptisite Lamy appointed to Church in Santa Fe, New Mexico Territory
• Bishop Lamy begins letter writing plea for priests, brothers and nuns to come out and help him

1852

• Sisters of Loretto send seven sisters from Kentucky
• Sisters leave St. Louis and travel to Independence, Mo.
• Encounter cholera epidemic, Mother Superior dies, and one nun is too ill to continue and returns

1853 - 1873

• Sisters open Academy of Our Lady of Light (Loretto)
• Few students to 300 students (girls) in a short period of time
• Tuition, donations, and from the sisters own inheritances ($30,000) fund the school and chapel
• Property is purchased, work on Loretto Chapel begins
• School facilities cover a square block with 10 buildings
• Architects from Paris design Loretto Chapel in the gothic style of King Louis IX's Sainte-Chapelle

1876

• Stained glass is purchased in Paris, arrives by ship in New Orleans, goes by paddle boat to St. Louis, and then travels by covered wagon via Old Santa Fe Trail

1878

• Chapel is completed
• No access the choir loft twenty-two feet above the main floor except by ladder
• Due to limited space within the chapel, there isn’t room for a staircase

Choir loft at the back of Loretto Chapel

Choir loft at the back of Loretto Chapel

[1877-1881]

• Staircase is built – without a railing

Picture of a picture of the staircase without rails

1887

• Staircase railing is added

Close-up of staircase railing

1880s & 1890s

• Chapel undergoes additions, renovations, such as the introduction of the Stations of the Cross, Gothic altar, frescoes

Front/Altar of Loretto Chapel

Pre-Vatican II Confessional & staircase - Loretto Chapel

Now, back to the mysteries of the staircase…

According to the history/legend on the Loretto Chapel website, the Miraculous Staircase is believed to have been constructed by St. Joseph, patron saint of carpenters, who answered the sisters' prayers for a solution to the access problem to the choir loft, when he arrived at the chapel with a donkey and a toolbox, and said he was looking for work. When he finished the staircase, he disappeared without payment or thanks.

Is the Miraculous Staircase a miracle, fabrication, or outright hoax? To quote a line from 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance'…

When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.

The 1998, made-for-television movie, The Staircase, stars Barbara Hershey as the mother superior and William Peterson as the mysterious carpenter. Yes, there's the Hollywood spin that fiddles with the *facts*; the story is a little slow, contrived, and melodramatic at times; but it’s still worth spending the 95 minutes to watch it, even if you only watch it once.

Other resources:
http://www.csicop.org/si/show/helix_to_heaven/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/15/AR2010011501810.html

Note: I took the pictures I used in this blog post. Please feel free to copy/download/use the images as you like.

Until next time,

Kaye
 

 
Fall in love…faster, harder, deeper with Kaye Spencer romances

www.kayespencer.com
Twitter - @kayespencer

The Failed and Flawed Exploits of the Jennings Gang - by Tom Rizzo

On the night of August 16, 1897, three members of an outlaw gang, hidden behind the tender of a southbound Santa Fe locomotive, climbed into the cab and ordered the engineer to stop.

When the passenger train lumbered to a halt, a few miles outside Edmund in Oklahoma Territory, four other gang members who were hiding in the tall brush alongside the tracks rushed the express car to rob the Wells Fargo safe. All attempts at opening the safe however, failed. They even tried dynamiting it—twice. The train robbers gave up and rode away, empty-handed.

Mugshot: Al Jennings

The Jennings Gang, as it was called, included Frank and Al Jennings, Little Dick West, and the O'Malley brothers.

A couple of months later, they struck again—this time, the southbound Rock Island passenger train near Chickasha, Indian Territory. Again, they were unable to crack the safe and, instead, blew up the express car.

Rather than leave  empty-handed this time, they robbed passengers of about $300, and managed to get away with a jug of whiskey and bunch of bananas.

Third time's a charm, so the saying goes. But not with these guys. On the next attempt, they stacked railroad ties across the track, but the engineer merely coaxed more speed out of the locomotive, smashed through the barrier, and kept going.

The gang then turned its attention to an express office, then a bank, but found the places surrounded by authorities each time they showed up to rob them.

You only get so many chances to prove your skills at being a successful outlaw and the gang's comedic attempts to practice outlawry ended a few months later when US Marshal Bud Ledbetter took Al Jennings into custody outside Muskogee after a shootout at the Spike S Ranch, an occasional hideout for outlaws.

Newspapers described the gang as "penniless, hungry, and wearing tattered clothing."

Others dubbed Jennings the worst outlaw in the West. But, even though he lacked the skills to succeed as an outlaw, Jennings wasn't a total bumbling fool. He ended up being a shrewd self-promoter.

Jennings was born in 1863 in Virginia. He and his brothers followed in the career footsteps of their father - who served as a judge - got law degrees and began practicing in the Oklahoma Territory in 1889.

Six years later, his brother Ed was shot to death by another lawyer—Temple Houston, son of famous Texas General Sam Houston. Temple was eventually acquitted. But Al and Frank Jennings, bitter about the verdict, vowed payback. They pursued Houston, but never caught him.

It was then the brothers made their decision to give up law and turn criminal.

Following his capture at Spike S Ranch, Jennings was convicted in May 1898 of assault with intent to kill, and given a life sentence at the federal penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio.

But his exploits didn't end there.

Serving time in the same facility was William Sidney Porter, later known to readers as short story writer, O. Henry, who was imprisoned for embezzlement.

In three years behind bars, Porter collected enough material from fellow prisoners to write stories that would rank him among the country's most famous literary personalities.

In 1904, Porter published a couple of stories based on fictionalized exploits of Al Jennings, who the writer alluded to as an expert in train robbery.

His association with Porter enabled Jennings to pump up his own image and credibility despite the lack of actual facts.

President William McKinley, in 1902, released Jennings, reducing his life sentence to five years with allowance for good behavior and, ultimately restored full citizenship. Jennings returned to Oklahoma and established a law practice in Lawton with his brother, John.

Ironically, crime paid off for Al Jennings.

He ran for public office, unsuccessfully, including a bid for the  Democratic gubernatorial nomination in Oklahoma in 1914.

The next year, his life story appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, followed by a motion picture, Beating Back, in which some scenes featured Jennings playing himself.

Jennings moved to Hollywood, California, and served as a consultant on films about the West. Although he regaled folks with tales of his wild outlaw years, most all of it amounted to complete fabrication.

"Old Al Jennings was around California for years," said Sheriff Jim Herron of Oklahoma, ". . . stuffing dudes with nonsense and telling them wild yarns about himself in the early days."

Jennings died December 21, 1961, at his home in Tarzana, California.

-tjr-

Tom Rizzo

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