In 1852, seven nuns left Kentucky travelling in covered wagons to Santa Fe to bring education and religion to the growing city. Five nuns arrived in Santa Fe, one nun died of Cholera, one turned back too sick to continue. Once in Santa Fe, the Sisters of Loretto set up camp and began their work.
In 1873, construction began on the Chapel of Our Lady of Light, the chapel commissioned along with Our Lady of Light Academy. The architect of the beautiful gothic chapel was the charming and talented Projectus Mouly,18 year old son of master architect Antoine Mouly. Sadly, in 1878, just before it's completion, the charismatic French architect was shot and killed by John Lamy, the nephew of the archbishop, because John believed his wife received too much of the young architect's attention.
The Loretto nuns were left with a beautiful chapel and no stairway to the choir loft. It was determined that the staircase in Mouly's plans wouldn't fit. Many architects and carpenters visited the chapel, but none could come up with a staircase to fit inside the chapel without remodelling the inside of the chapel itself, and taking up valuable space. So the nuns prayed for an answer to their staircase dilemma.
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