El Santuario de Chimayó (formally El Santuario de Nuestro Señor de Esquipulas) is a small adobe shrine in the village of Chimayó, New Mexico, about 25–30 miles north of Santa Fe in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. It is one of the most important Catholic pilgrimage sites in the United States, often called the “Lourdes of America,” and is famous for its holy dirt (tierra bendita) believed to have healing powers. 

Indigenous Roots
Long before Spanish settlement, Tewa Pueblo people regarded the area as sacred. They named it Tsi-Mayoh after one of four sacred hills. They believed healing spirits were present, originally associated with hot springs that later dried up, leaving behind earth with curative properties. The site of today’s shrine was already used for healing purposes. 

The Central Legend (Most Popular Version)
On the night of Good Friday in 1810, Don Bernardo Abeyta, a local landowner and member of the Penitente Brotherhood (Los Hermanos de la Fraternidad Piadosa de Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno), was performing penance near the Santa Cruz River in the settlement then called El Potrero. He saw a strange light shining from the ground. Digging with his bare hands, he uncovered a large wooden crucifix, which he recognized as Our Lord of Esquipulas (Nuestro Señor de Esquipulas)—a devotion linked to a famous Black Christ crucifix and healing earth shrine in Esquipulas, Guatemala. 

Abeyta left the crucifix in place and alerted neighbors and the parish priest, Fray Sebastián Álvarez of Santa Cruz de la Cañada (about 8 miles away). The priest and villagers carried the crucifix in procession to the church in Santa Cruz and placed it on the main altar. The next morning it was gone—found again at the original spot in El Potrero. This happened two more times. The community concluded that the image wanted to remain where it was found. 

Building the Shrine
Abeyta built a small private chapel (hermita) around 1810. In November 1813 he petitioned Fray Álvarez for permission to construct a larger public chapel dedicated to Our Lord of Esquipulas so the growing number of pilgrims could worship and hear Mass. Permission was granted by the Diocese of Durango in 1814. The present adobe shrine was completed by 1816. 
Almost immediately, reports of healings spread, attributed both to the crucifix and especially to the earth from the hole (el pocito) where it was found. People took the dirt to mix with water and drink, apply as a paste, or simply keep as a sacramental.

Other Versions of the Story
Several variant legends exist:
•  Abeyta was cured of an illness after a vision of the saint at the site.
•  The crucifix belonged to a priest from Esquipulas who was killed by Indians and buried there; a flood in 1810 uncovered both the body and the cross.
•  A different person found the crucifix in a tree or elsewhere.
The Guatemalan connection is historical in origin: devotion to the Christ of Esquipulas (and its healing clay) had reached New Mexico by at least 1805, when a relative of Abeyta was baptized with the name Juan de Esquipulas. 

Later History
The shrine remained in the Abeyta/Chaves family for generations, supported by pilgrim donations. In 1929 the Spanish Colonial Arts Society purchased it and donated it to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. It is a National Historic Landmark. Hundreds of thousands of visitors come each year; the biggest crowds arrive during Holy Week, especially on Good Friday, when many walk long distances (some carrying large crosses) from Santa Fe or farther. 
Today the main church holds the historic crucifix behind the altar. A side room contains el pocito—a small pit of holy dirt that is continually replenished and blessed. Walls display crutches, braces, photos, and handwritten testimonies left by those who believe they were healed.
The story blends Indigenous sacred geography, Spanish colonial Catholicism, Penitente devotion, and folk belief in miraculous healing, making El Santuario de Chimayó a uniquely New Mexican place of faith.

From our road trip last month…


The story of St. Joseph’s staircase (the “Miraculous Staircase”) at Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is a well-known Catholic legend centered on answered prayer, skilled craftsmanship, and unexplained details.
In the 1870s the Sisters of Loretto commissioned a Gothic Revival chapel (originally called the Chapel of Our Lady of Light) for their girls’ academy. Construction finished around 1878, but the choir loft—about 20–22 feet above the main floor—had no staircase. A conventional stair would have taken up too much of the limited floor space and seating. Local carpenters said it could not be done practically. A ladder was considered unsuitable for the sisters and students in their long habits and dresses. 
The sisters turned to prayer. They made a nine-day novena to St. Joseph, patron of carpenters and the foster father of Jesus. On the ninth and final day, a gray-haired stranger arrived with a donkey and a simple toolbox (accounts often mention a saw, hammer, and T-square or carpenter’s square). He offered to build the staircase, asked for privacy while working, and labored alone for several months (versions range from a few months to six or eight).

 When the work was finished he disappeared without seeking payment or leaving his name. The sisters searched for him, even placing a notice in the local newspaper, but found no trace. They concluded that St. Joseph himself—or a carpenter sent in answer to their prayers—had built it. 
The finished staircase is a helix (spiral) that rises roughly 20 feet with two full 360-degree turns and no central support pole. It has 33 steps (the traditional number of years of Jesus’ earthly life). It was built with wooden pegs rather than nails, using a type of spruce not native to the American Southwest. The original staircase had no handrail; a railing was added later (around 1887) for safety, and an iron bracket was eventually attached for extra stability. 

The three enduring mysteries
The Loretto Chapel itself highlights three mysteries that have kept the story alive:
•  The builder’s identity — never definitively established in the sisters’ accounts.
•  The wood — identified as a spruce variety not local to New Mexico; its exact origin remains uncertain.
•  The construction — a free-standing spiral of that height and tightness without a visible central newel, joined primarily with wooden pegs.
The chapel is now a private museum and popular pilgrimage and tourist site. The traditional Catholic telling emphasizes the sisters’ faith, the novena to St. Joseph, and the belief that their prayer was answered in a striking way. Some later historical research has pointed to a French carpenter named François-Jean (“Frank”) Rochas as a possible builder, based on local records and an 1881 payment entry, but the sisters’ own tradition and the chapel’s presentation continue to treat the staircase as a work of providential mystery. 
The story remains a favorite example of devotion to St. Joseph as intercessor and of quiet, skilled labor offered in faith.

Talking with a formally fat guy here.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1K3fMHAiuz/

Getting his ass handed to him, as usual.

Presently, Republicans control the House and Senate and therefore their leadership is responsible for setting the schedule, (as in days worked verses days off). What work do you propose Democrats do when Republicans are on recess?

I don't know, when you were working, did you not show up when your boss wasn't there? Nobody I know gets time off when their boss has time off.

I'd propose they show up, maybe review material, starting with science books to figure out what a woman is? Maybe they could try reading the Constitution? You could have Habeeb Jeffries read it to the class and test them afterwards?

I 100% voted for this

*I use voice to text

When someone uses voice to text, who is responsible for the content and accuracy of the posts. My wild guess is that the user, (in this case you) is who has responsibility for what they publish/post.

Thanks for clarifying how you voted.