Blessed Mother Esperanza

"God neither wants nor permits anything that is not for our good. Everything comes from the hand of God, our Father, who is worthy of being loved both when he permits pain and when he sends joy."  Blessed Mother Esperanza

https://www.collevalenza.org/collevalenza/madre-speranza/

Blessed Mother Esperanza was born in Santomera (Murcia), Spain, on September 30, 1893. She died in Collevalenza on February 8, 1983.

In 1930, she founded the Congregation of the Handmaids of Merciful Love in Madrid; in 1951, that of the Sons in Rome.

Blessed Mother Esperanza arrived in Collevalenza on August 18, 1951. In 1956 she built the Chapel of Merciful Love, which was erected as a Sanctuary in 1959. The basilica was inaugurated in 1965. In the Sanctuary, together with the Crucifix, the Madonna is venerated under the title of Mary Mediatrix.

Blessed Mother Esperanza devoted her life to making known the paternal tenderness of God, who always loves and forgives his children.

She lies in the crypt of the Sanctuary which was built as a monument of God's mercy. The diocesan process on her life and virtues begun on February 8, 1988, concluded in Collevalenza on February 11, 1990; on April 23, 2002, she was declared Blessed, and on May 31, 2014, the Rite of Beatification was celebrated in the name of Pope Francis at the Sanctuary of Merciful Love in Collevalenza presided over by Cardinal Angelo Amato.