NEW MEXICO, DAY 5: CATHEDRAL BASILICA OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI AND THE LORETTO CHAPEL

 June 29, 2021

It began to rain as we approached the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, and it pretty much rained for the rest of the day. Luckily, we were able to park fairly close in a lot at the rear of the church and entered the complex from behind. Even at the back of the church, St. Francis was there to greet us.

These two large talevera pots on the walkway are some of the most beautiful I have seen.

The Cathedral Basilica, aka Saint Francis Cathedral, is the mother church of the Santa Fe Archdiocese. Built between 1869 and 1886 under the direction of the French Archbishop of the region, Jean Baptiste Lamy, it replaced an older, smaller adobe church. The French influence of Lamy's background (and his two French architects) is clear. With its Corinthian columns, round arches, and rose window, the cathedral looks nothing like the other adobe structures in the area. The two truncated towers were designed to be the base for 160-foot steeples, but the money ran out and they were never added.

Front view of the cathedral

On our way in, I got a laugh out of the request not to toss coins into the font. 

When I saw the font in the center of the nave, however, I understood the request. This is not your standard stone baptismal bowl on a pedestal, but a full-blown fountain.

A beautiful brass grill (which I assume can be removed when water is in the font) is adorned with the symbols of the four Gospel authors (clockwise from top): the Angel for St. Matthew, the Eagle for St. John, the Lion for St. Mark, and the Ox for St. Luke. The two fish in the center are a symbol of Christ.

It was pretty inside, but not spectacular. It had a colonial-style interior rather than a European one. This is looking towards the altar from the back:

Close-up of the beautiful painted trim that emphasizes the arches and runs across the top of the apse:

Looking towards the back from the center:

The rose window looks very European.

The stained glass dove above the main entrance represents the Holy Spirit.

It is a pretty good adaptation of the dove window created by Bernini in 1666 for St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.

The main doors are decorated by carvings of Mary, Queen of Heaven and St. Francis of Assisi.

The altar is backed by what looks a bit like a Greek or Russian Orthodox iconostasis--an icon-covered screen. The carved seat in the photo on the right is half pulpit, half throne.

I'm not sure what this is. Not to be disrespectful, but it looks like a rocket ready to launch.

I liked the display of consecrated oils, something I haven't seen before. L to R: Oil of the Catechumens (used in baptisms), Sacred Chrism (myrrh, used for anointing), and Oil of the Sick (used in blessings given to the sick). 

The cathedral is especially known for its stained glass windows imported from France (via the Santa Fe Trail) featuring the Twelve Apostles. I'll share my favorites. This is Peter with his many keys:

St. Mark with his lion and St. Luke with his ox:

St. Thomas, looking particularly doubtful, and St. Andrew with his x-shaped cross:

St. Matthew with an angel (my favorite of all of them) and St. John with his winged eagle peaking out from behind him:

Pope Benedict elevated the Cathedral to a Basilica in 2005, and, like almost all basilicas, there is an umbraculum (Italian for "big umbrella") in a corner, a symbol of the pope and indicating the cathedral's enhanced status.

A plaque reminds visitors that "The Way of the Cross" was begun by St. Francis of Assisi in the 13th century.

There were some interesting statues outside. In the side yard is a statue of Kateri Takekwitha, "The first Indian of North America to be promoted to a Saint."

Two statues dominate the front yard of the cathedral. On one side is Father Lamy, the priest who served as the first Archbishop of Santa Fe.

On the other side is St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of this cathedral.

We came across another statue of St. Francis on our way back to our car. This one is watching over a sweet birdbath springing out of a tree trunk.

And not far away, Mary, Queen of Heaven also watches over God's creations.

The Loretto Chapel is just a block from the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, but it is also less than a half-mile from the O'Keeffe Museum, so we actually visited it on Day 2 of our trip after we visited the O'Keeffe Museum (the day the Basilica was closed). The walking route from the O'Keeffe Museum to the Chapel goes through Santa Fe Plaza, the zocolo of the city. 

The plaza is surrounded by picturesque shopping and dining.

Under the direction of Archbishop Lamy, the French architects who worked on the St. Francis Cathedral also designed this small chapel for the Sisters of Loretto for their girls' school in 1873. Like the cathedral, this Gothic Revival building (the first Gothic structure west of the Mississippi) is very French. In fact, it is based on the famous Sainte-Chapelle Cathedral in Paris.

It has a stunning altar

Close-up of the Loretto Chapel altar on the left and view of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris on the right.

However, people don't flock to this relatively small chapel because of the architecture.

THIS is what draws them, along with the legend of an itinerant carpenter who solved the problem of how to access the choir loft. (Apparently the great Parisian architects had neglected that small detail in their plans.) He built a 20-foot-tall spiral staircase that makes two full turns without the support of a central pole. It is held together by wooden pegs and glue rather than nails. Originally, there were no handrails, making its free-standing design even more remarkable, but they were added in 1887.

Unfortunately, visiting the Loretto Chapel is more of a tourist experience than a spiritual experience. As you can see, it was quite crowded.

READING

When we decided on traveling to New Mexico, the book that immediately came to mind was Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather. I read it 40 years ago and remembered loving it, and so I was ready to tackle it again. We listened to most of it as we drove around New Mexico, and I finished it after we got home. Published in 1927, it tells the story of the fictional Archbishop Latour, assigned to oversee a newly created diocese in New Mexico in 1851. With his friend Father Vaillant, he makes a place for himself among the people and is able to build the first cathedral in Santa Fe.  The novel is loosely based on the real-life figure of Archbishop Lamy and includes references to Kit Carson and other historical figures.                                                                                                        I am a big Willa Cather fan, so I love this slow-moving book and its gentle protagonist. The friendship between the two main characters also touched me. Many consider this book to be Cather's best work.

I went looking for a book on the Loretto Chapel and settled on The Staircase by award-winning young adult fiction writer Ann Rinaldi.  I really enjoyed this quick read, the story of 13-year-old Lizzy Enders, a Methodist student at a Santa Fe school run by Catholic nuns. As a misfit, she makes enemies of one of her peers, who makes her life miserable. However, when a carpenter named José comes to Santa Fe, she befriends him and convinces Bishop Lamy to hire him to build the staircase in the nun's newly built chapel. A series of miracles (in addition to the building of the staircase) softens the hearts of Lizzy, the other girls, and the townspeople. The mysterious carpenter, who happens to be named José, is already gone when the finished staircase is discovered just in time for Christmas mass.

MOVIE

Bob and I tracked down this made-for-TV movie, filmed in 1988 and starring Barbara Hershey as the ailing Reverend Mother of the Sisters of Loretto and William Peterson as Joad, an itinerant carpenter.  The 95-minute-long movie has a kind of Hallmark feel to it, but we enjoyed it nevertheless.