Miracle Staircase

One of the Great Wonders 
of the World!

Before I start this story--let me be very clear: been there, seen this, it's miraculous no matter how it got there! 

Now the story...

In Santa Fe, NM, there is the Loretto Chapel which looks more like a cathedral.  It was built in 1877, but the architect and chief builder died in the middle of construction leaving no way to get to the choir loft. As you stand in the sanctuary and look up at the loft, you have got to wonder how anyone would have the skills to build even a basic structure without a long intrusive incline.

Here is the story they tell:  


 
Needing a way to get up to the choir loft the nuns prayed for St. Joseph's intercession for nine straight days. On the day after their novena ended a shabby looking stranger appeared at their door. He told the nuns he would build them a staircase but that he needed total privacy and locked himself in the chapel for three months. He used a small number of primitive tools including a square, a saw and some warm water and constructed a spiral staircase entirely of non-native wood. The identity of the  
 

Loretto Chapel, Santa Fe

carpenter is not known for as soon as the staircase was finally finished he was gone. Many witnesses, upon seeing the staircase, feel it was constructed by St. Joseph himself, as a miraculous occurrence.

The resulting staircase is an impressive work of carpentry. It ascends twenty feet, making two complete revolutions up to the choir loft without the use of nails or apparent center support. It has been surmised that the central spiral of the staircase is narrow enough to serve as a central beam. Nonetheless there was no attachment unto any wall or pole in the original stairway, although in 1887 -- 10 years after it was built -- a railing was added and the outer spiral was fastened to an adjacent pillar.^[4] Instead of metal nails, the staircase was constructed using dowels or wooden pegs.^[5]
The legend claims that the mystery had never been satisfactorily solved as to who the carpenter was or where he got his lumber, and that there were no reports of anyone seeing lumber delivered or even seeing the man come and go while the construction was being done. Since he left before the Mother Superior could pay him, the Sisters of Loretto offered a reward for the identity of the man, but it was never claimed.

Look...
I am not trying to solve this mystery.  I saw it.  All I can tell you is that a structure like this one built entirely with dowels and from non-native wood is truly a masterpiece.  Personally, I do not believe that God goes zap and just takes the place of people.  God has this thing for using people.  The incarnation--God becoming a human being in Jesus-is the master-work.  Everything else derives from that ultimate reality.  So I do not have to argue if Joseph the Carpenter arrived--somebody did craft a magnificent work and it alone testifies to the ultimate Creator.  

What structures does God build in the world through our lives through words of grace, hope, forgiveness and love?  Isn't this truly incredible work of a staircase one way of looking at what you and I build in the world through the work of God in us?