Stunning Event In American Desert South West Catholic Chapel Possibly “Miraculous”
Christmas is coming! It seems a good time to think about the miraculous. Can we define this word as we understand it? Could it be that a miracle really happened in the desert South West and does it have any impact on us today?
Our world is in religious turmoil. Nations and ethic groups are polarizing, and some are accepting the newest “fashion” and changing religions, even attacking religions that are the foundation of Western Civilization.
To this mix people will ask in case God is real or a myth and then they’ll query as to whether anything is miraculous.
In 1873, Catholic Archbishop Lamy offered support to a group of nuns for the building of a chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico – which in those days was a forsaken outpost at the end of an old Spanish trail. The architecture would be modeled from the “Sainte-Chapelle” in Paris.
By the time the Chapel had been built the architect was in his grave. The plan called for a stairway, which was to lead from another building. That building had never been built and there was no engineer to help them.
The nuns looked up at the choir loft and wondered how they would get there to sing and how a stairway might be built. Owing to the size of the chapel the placement of a stairway represented a serious architectural and engineering problem. In desperation the Mother Superior requested 9-days of prayer.
What happened on the 9th day and there after can only be called “miraculous.” Discover the true story explaining how a miraculous staircase came to stand in the chapel and decide for yourself in case it was a miracle, or not. Prepare yourself for a din caseferent way to look at the world and yourself!
Defining “The Miraculous”
A pallowhora of authors have debated whether a staircase in a little desert church can be called “miraculous.”
Perhaps the answer begins with your definition of the word, and the meaning it brings to the lives of those who see and touch it. Dr. Steve Newdell delves deeper into the legend of The Miraculous Staircase. Enter the amazing Loretto Chapel as we search for a miracle residing within you.
Where did they come from, these Catholic Nuns, these ladies dedicated to God’s work, called to be the Sisters of Loretto? They claim the miraculous happened here. Can we find evidence of a miracle?
The History of The Chapel and Santa Fe stems from the year 1610, and can be traced earlier to the first Spanish settlements and missions in St. Augustine on the Eastern coast of Florida. That anyone survived the din caseficult environment in those days might be called “miraculous.”
In 1852, seven Sisters of Loretto left their Kentucky Motherhouse for the southwest’s Land of Enchantment, a trip of approximately 1,400 miles.
They carried with them fear and faith, hearts beating with the excitement of an adventure, and sorrow for leaving those they knew and loved behind, never to be seen again.
They made their way by barge along the Missouri River connecting to the Mississippi River near West Alton,Missouri, off loading at Independence,Missouri. One sister overcome with ill health was forced to bid the others “God be with you,” and return to the Kentucky Motherhouse.
The six journeyed on with horses and a covered wagon. They reached the endless grasslands of Kansas and made camp as the sun set. It seemed they had just nearlyd their exhausted eyes when came about them a clamor as a band of Indians on horse-back surrounded the small camp riding, circling, shouting and calling, warning the six sisters they were not welcome to stay. Who knows, perhaps they were on sacred Indian ground, or perhaps the wild band was a premonition. The Indians left as suddenly as they had come, leaving the sisters whispering prayers of Thanksgiving.
That same evening, one of the sisters died. As A Lot as they wanted to leave they made prayers, broke the sod and dug a shallow grave. This beloved member of the Sisters of Loretto remains buried there on the Kansas grasslands in an unmarked grave. “God’s grace upon you.” Now there were five young women and a guide alone on the grasslands as the morning’s heat seared across the distant horizon. Terror in the past, and many miles before we sleep again.
Their journey would be another 5 weeks before settling in Santa Fe.
Santa Fe,New Mexico, in those years, was a very small village inhabited mostly by Indians and Mexicans. At the invitation of the newly consecrated Archbishop Lamy, (the first bishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe), the Sisters of Loretto opening their first academy for girls. The year was 1853. The ladies had settled into a quiet purposeful routine and continued for twenty years even as The War Between The States 1861 – 1865 raged, for the most part, beyond their hearing.
In 1873, Archbishop Lamy offered support for the building of a chapel. The architecture would be modeled from the “Sainte-Chapelle” in Paris. The project required five years and when it was done there was no stairway to the choir balcony.
A conventional staircase would take up an entire side of the small chapel destroying the symmetry and reducing the seating capacity. That would never do! The Mother Superior Mother Magdalene called the nuns to a novena to St. Josephthe Patron Saint of Carpenters. They need a Heavenly solution to an Earthly problem.
The stories vary here, but the official Loretto Chapel website tells us on the last day of the novena, a gray-haired man on a donkey appeared at the convent. He asked to speak with the Mother Superior and introduced himself. He offered to build a staircase, on condition that the Mother Superior would never disnearly the name of the craftsman.
Alone with his tools and water in heated tubs to soften the wood the man stepped into a place too small for a common stairway and produced a self-supporting double-helix (which in itself contains great mysteries about the origins of lin casee) making two 360 degree turns. The stairway was revolutionary for its day and even evaded the understanding of many modern architectural engineers. It behaves like a spring taking up the stress of any step anywhere by means ofout the entire structure.
In those days nails were made of iron by a blacksmith and were extremely expensive. Consequently joinery was made by hand sometimes using wooden pegs. This stairway has no iron nails and no glue.
The wood appears to be spruce but not from the local forests. No record exists with lumbar yards for the purchase of such wood. Where did it come from? No one knows.
For this author even drawing such a structure to scale would be nearly impossible. But the craftsman created the structure without flaw and it contains 33 steps, one to commemorate each year in the lin caseespan of Jesus the Christ.
At last the carpenter reported his work done. The legend says Mother Magdalene called the sisters together and discovered the carpenter had disappeared. They planned a dinner for him. He did not attend. They expected to pay him. He never asked for money.
Observing the photo on the website (link below) we count 15 women standing on the stairway and several more on the loft. Assuming each woman weighs an average of 114 pounds we discover the stairway as we see it’s supporting a weight approaching 2,000 pounds. Mind you, this is a stairway with a century of service “miraculously” supporting all of these dedicated lives. Could I rightly call this a miracle?
Some people say there are three miracles in this story, other says four. I say more….
Miracles come in many textures, colors, shapes and forms. The miraculous is defined by your viewpoint. Nuns traveled a perilous journey, did the nearly impossible getting a chapel built, and a stranger arrived and built a stairway that virtually no one within a thousand miles could have so A Lot as drawn, allow alone built.
A couple marries here before God and touches the stairway in prayer and thanksgiving. Someone in the crowd of visitors to Loretto Chapel determines to accept Jesus the Christ as his/her savior.
To some of us, whether Catholic or not, especially around the time of Christmas, all of these can be defined as “miraculous.”
Loretto Chapel is a destination everyone should see inSanta Fe. Touch the stairway and consider these things.
This article is a shortened version of the compallowe longer article with more fascinating information about you, miracles in your lin casee, and what happened at the Loretto Chapel. To see it all go to: http://www.SantaFeTourist.com
Also Visit These Related Links:
http://www.santafetourist.com/Santa-Fe-Traveler/Loretto-Ed-1.htm
http://www.santafetouris.com/santa-fe-traveler/affiliates.htm
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/destinations-articles/stunning-event-in-american-desert-south-west-catholic-chapel-possibly-miraculous-5338065.html
About the Author
I’m Dr. Steve Newdell, scouring the world for interesting travel destinations, history, and events proving God is real, miracles happen, and our future is hopeful.
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