The architectural style of the entire worship complex can be described as bold and absolutely modern, but fundamentally it is a revelation and participation of the sacred achieved through extensive symbolism. A recurring formal characteristic is the roundness of the lines that propagate everywhere, conceived as the waves generated by a stone on the surface of water, symbolizing the word and light of Christ that spreads throughout the world and penetrates everything.
The Sanctuary of Merciful Love has an entrance resembling a small temple, with intricate stained glass. The oblique reliefs bind the building in a unified rhythm. The interior, with a single nave, is illuminated by stained glass whose design repeats the rhythm of the building. In the apse, the large crucifix, the object of worship, is placed.
The bell tower has a cross-shaped plan resulting from opposing concrete and brick rotundas. The unusual shape of the bell tower was designed with a precise technical purpose: when a mountain dweller wants to send a call far away, they automatically bring a hand to their mouth to guide the initial path of the sound (the exact expression is to make a megaphone with their hands), and the architect wanted to reproduce this principle by assigning a megaphone to each bell, creating a fifth masonry projection laterally, so that the sound is reinforced and echoes farther. Therefore, the bell frame was also abolished, and the hinges were directly fixed to the masonry, the rotation axes shifted outward, and the bells placed flush with the outer edge.
The Basilica faces a large bowl-shaped staircase. The steps align with hints of convergence towards the entrance and harmonize, beyond a small green patio, with the Sanctuary behind the bell tower.
The entrance consists of a central door and two side entrances, the doors open under the portico, low, armored with copper, hammered with nails in circles and lines like an ancient chest. Inside, they are made of solid beech wood with heavy hardware.
In the two side entrances, under a cone of light, are placed the two holy water fonts, consisting of a rough stone pedestal and a basin of polished Parian marble, symbols respectively of the soul before baptism without Grace and after baptism purified and in God’s Grace.
The interior has a single nave created by the space formed by two rows of simple cylinders slightly spaced apart, allowing light to penetrate and covered by a large reinforced concrete slab that unifies the whole. These load-bearing cylinders, cut inward along their entire height, form the chapels. The floor draws concentric circles starting from the altar.
The altar, the ambos, the cathedra, and the tabernacle are in white marble. These are under a canopy consisting of a copper crown as large as the entire altar suspended above it, attached to 24 thin steel wires, this crown serves to remind of the royalty of Jesus’ passion and accentuates the sacred character of the place.
The apse is concave outward and convex toward the main altar, the opposite of the traditional arrangement, with the intent of emphasizing that the sacred is something to be communicated to all. Small square windows open wide views to the infinity of white light and reflect changing iridescence on the tabernacle.
Inside the side chapels, there is the altar dedicated to the mystery of Jesus’ birth, consisting of a monolithic block of Prodo marble, above it is a cross made of wooden panels, each depicting episodes from Jesus’ life.
The altar dedicated to the souls of purgatory is carved from two blocks of pink Viterbo peperino, superimposed in the shape of a cross. Niches carved into the living stone offer catacombal reflections. The cross reminds the believer of the hope in the Risen Christ who conquers death and the expectation of the Resurrection.
The altar dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul consists of a travertine table supported by a column of black rupestrian selce and a steel pillar, referencing the two apostles.
Above it, the Spanish artist Vaquero Turcios has represented in a tapestry Saint Peter and Saint Paul, whose figures evoke granite columns.
The altar dedicated to the Madonna del Pilar, venerated in Spain, recalls the apparition of the Virgin to Saint James, discouraged in his evangelization work. The Madonna comforted him, and the apostle resumed his activity. The two columns supporting the altar table repeat the motif of the pillar (pilar) on which the Madonna rests. The ray is carved in Viterbo peperino.
A helical staircase with walls woven in bricks like a basket connects the temple to the sanctuary and the crypt. In Collevalenza, there are not two churches, one above and one below, because in the composite architectural unity, they are actually one. There are already examples of this kind, but the novelty here is in the communication between the overlapping spaces, which is not only a geometric, acoustic, or optical fact, but a matter of light; as the crypt takes light entirely from the church above, both through the lantern cones collinear with the perimeter of the Temple and an integral part of it, and even more through the direct reflection of the large side stained glass windows, which in the morning light up blue under the rising sun and at noon turn red until sunset. This light, intentionally radiated in the church from the upper one, harmonizes with the dedication of the sanctuary that brings the pilgrim closer to Jesus Merciful Love and, at the same time, reminds them in the crypt of the Virgin, Mary Mediatrix, who assumes light and meaning from the Son.
The same load-bearing cylinders of the entire building extend below the temple floor, giving rise to the partially buried crypt. The crypt altar is consecrated to Mary Mediatrix. Above the mosaic altar, the work of Professor Mariano Villalta, depicts the Madonna reunited with the apostles in the cenacle. Behind the crypt altar is the tomb of Mother Speranza, whose body was buried on February 13, 1983.
To the left of the basilica, there is a well whose water, considered miraculous, feeds the pools for the sick. This well was dug by the express will of God, through Mother Speranza who indicated the precise location. The pools are inside a simple and linear building, divided into two pavilions, one for men and one for women, inside are the mosaics of Mariano Villalta and the painter Igino Cupelloni depicting Jesus performing miracles using water, and in each of the 10 basins, a Commandment is written, recalling the covenant God made with man.
Additionally, the house of the youth and the house of the pilgrim have been built. Modern buildings that welcome those who come here for a stay of reflection in peace and serenity. They are modernly equipped with living rooms, reading rooms, meeting rooms suitable for both assemblies and group work, with multiple diffusion systems for multiple rooms simultaneously. All rooms have independent facilities.
Downstream from the sanctuary, an avenue of about 800 meters forms the Via Crucis. The first three groups of statues are the work of the sculptor Antonio Ranocchia, while the remaining eleven groups are by the architect Alcide Ticò. Description: It is a polychrome wooden crucifix made by the sculptor Cullot Valera, placed in the Chapel of Merciful Love. In the sanctuary, along with the Crucifix, the Madonna is venerated with the title of Mary Mediatrix, to whom the crypt altar is consecrated. Popular devotion has made it so that after her death, the tomb of Mother Speranza also became a place of pilgrimage and worship. Entered into use: in the year 1955 Image: Statue Type: Object of worship not classifiable as an image or relic
Notes on the collection: The gratitude of the pilgrims who received graces is testified by ex-votos that were initially placed in the Chapel of the Crucifix, on the sides of the Cross, and belonged to the classic typology: objects of goldsmithing, silver hearts, etc., today only terracotta tiles with the names of the graced and the date of the event inscribed are used, cataloged according to a progressive number, placed on the walls of the Sanctuary, while in the archive the related documentation is preserved, consisting of medical certificates and declarations justifying the ex-voto. Typology of ex-votos: Tablets or plates with inscriptions, Painted tablets, Objects of goldsmithing
There is a collection of miracles kept in the Archive of the Congregation of Merciful Love (ACAM).
On August 18, 1951, in the town of Collevalenza, Mother Speranza Alhama de Jesús settled with the Sisters and the first Sons of Merciful Love, to teach and propagate devotion to Jesus Merciful Love and with the intention of founding a grand sanctuary. Mother Speranza was born on September 30, 1893, in Santomera de Murcia, a town in southern Spain, from a very poor family of agricultural laborers and was the eldest of nine children. In 1914, at twenty-one, she left her hometown of Santomera and moved to Villena, entering among the Sisters Daughters of Calvary, an institute later aggregated to the Institute of the Claretian Missionaries. Distinguished for the intensity of her faith, which was strengthened through countless sufferings and illnesses, she had various mystical experiences, including that of the cross (from the period between August 1926 and December 1927, the sister was beaten by the devil and sweated blood, on February 24, 1928, on the first Friday of Lent, she received the stigmata, which she kept for her entire life except for the last six or seven years).
Soon she felt called by the Lord to found a new religious family. The realization of this project was very difficult due to the opposition and strong resistance she encountered from superiors, who were more inclined towards reform rather than something entirely new.
Mother Speranza, however, faithful to her vocation, in obedience to God’s will, in 1930 left the congregation of the Daughters of Calvary and founded in Madrid the Sisters Servants of Merciful Love, whose fundamental testimony is that God does not want to be considered an offended and disgusted father for the sins of his children, but as a merciful father who loves them, forgives them, and is always ready to welcome them.
In 1935, the bishop of Vitoria erected the new foundation as a Congregation of diocesan right. In April 1936, she felt called to Italy to found a school for poor girls in Rome, where, during the Second World War, she dedicated herself to helping the wounded, assisting political persecuted, and feeding hundreds of needy people every day.
In 1951, Mother Speranza founded the Congregation of the Sons of Merciful Love, whose main purpose is to promote fraternal union with priests and opens her houses to them to offer help and support, allowing them to become part of the Religious Family with all rights and duties without having to leave the presbytery in which they are inserted and operate. An arduous and innovative project that the Mother has offered to the Church and from which she still awaits recognition. In the same year, she moved with some sons and daughters to Collevalenza where she intends to found a sanctuary to remain faithful to the divine call received in 1949. Here are the words Jesus told her, noted by Mother Speranza in her diary: …you, helped by Me, in a few years, with greater anguish, fatigue, suffering, and sacrifices, will organize the last and magnificent laboratory that will serve as great material and moral help for the daughters and young women who will have the fortune to be admitted. Near this laboratory will be the greatest magnificent organization of a Sanctuary dedicated to my Merciful Love, House for the sick and pilgrims, House for the Clergy, the Novitiate of my Servants, the seminary of my Sons of Merciful Love; and then, without the strong help of the House in Rome, where the General Government will always remain, everyone will live helping each other, the Servants with their material work and the Sons always with spiritual work, spreading around them the sweet perfume of good example, attracting to Me all those who will visit this unique Sanctuary of my Merciful Love.
In April 1953, the construction of the Fathers’ house began, inaugurated on December 18 of the same year. In 1954, the seminary for the apostles was built. On July 2, 1955, the Chapel of Merciful Love dedicated to Jesus was consecrated, which four years later, on September 30, 1959, was erected as a sanctuary by the then Bishop of Todi Monsignor Alfonso Maria de Sanctis. (Summarized news from the volume by: FATHER MARIO GIALLETTI, “Mother Speranza”, Editions Merciful Love, Collevalenza Perugia 1997).
In 1951, Sister Speranza moved with some sons and daughters to Collevalenza where she intends to found a sanctuary to remain faithful to the divine call received in 1949. These are the words Jesus told her, noted by Mother Speranza in her diary: …you, helped by Me, in a few years, with greater anguish, fatigue, suffering, and sacrifices, will organize the last and magnificent laboratory that will serve as great material and moral help for the daughters and young women who will have the fortune to be admitted. Near this laboratory will be the greatest magnificent organization of a Sanctuary dedicated to my Merciful Love, House for the sick and pilgrims, House for the Clergy, the Novitiate of my Servants, the seminary of my Sons of Merciful Love; and then, without the strong help of the House in Rome, where the General Government will always remain, everyone will live helping each other, the Servants with their material work and the Sons always with spiritual work, spreading around them the sweet perfume of good example, attracting to Me all those who will visit this unique Sanctuary of my Merciful Love.
Pilgrimage of Pope John Paul II occurred on November 22, 1981. Opening of the diocesan process of canonization of Mother Speranza occurred on April 24, 1988. Closing of the diocesan process on the life and virtues of the Mother occurred on February 11, 1990. In 1992, the congregation for the causes of saints granted the decree of legal validity of the acts, and a year later, the Positio was completed and delivered to the same congregation to obtain the decree on the heroicity of the virtues of the Mother.
April 8, 1965: plenary indulgence. April 14, 1982: the sanctuary was awarded the title of Minor Basilica by Pope John Paul II.

06059 Collevalenza Province of Perugia, Italy