Blessed Esperanza de Jesus
Also known as
- Giuseppa Alhama Valera
- María Esperanza of Jesus
- María Josefa Alhama Valera
- Sister Speranza di Gesù
- Sister Hope of Jesus
Profile
Eldest of nine children born to a peasant family. Around the age of 12, possibly due to an apparition of Saint Teresa of Avila, María Josefa received an inspiration that she should spread the devotion to the Merciful Love of Jesus. At age 23 she joined the Daughters of Calvary, taking the name Esperanza de Jesus (Hope of Jesus). Member of the Claretian Missionaries. Founded the Handmaids of Merciful Love in Madrid, Spain on 24 December 1930 to care for and teach poor children and orphans, and to care for the sick and elderly. Worked in Rome, Italy from 1936 to 1951. Founded the Sons of Merciful Love in Collevalenza, Perugia, Italy in 1951. On 22 November 1981, Pope Saint John Paul II visited her at the sanctuary in Collevalenza.
Born
- 30 September 1893 in Santomera, Murcia, Spain as Josefa Alhama Valera
- 8 February 1983 in Collevalenza, Perugia, Italy
- interred in the crypt of the Sanctuary of Merciful Love in Collevalenza
- 23 April 2002 by Pope John Paul II (decree of heroic virtues)
- 31 May 2014 by Pope Francis
- beatification recognition celebrated at the Sanctuary of Merciful Love, Collevallenza, Perugia, Italy, presided by Cardinal Angelo Amato
- her beatification miracle involved the survival of a child named Francesco Maria in Monza, Italy, who, as an newborn in 1998, was starving due to an inability to digest anything, but was healed by drinking water from the sanctuary of Mother Esperanza
Readings
Father of Mercy and God of all consolation, we thank you because, through the life and the word of the Mother Esperanza of Jesus, you call us to your Merciful Love. Give us the same confidence in your paternal love and, if it is in your plans to give her the glory that you offer to whoever is faithful to your Spirit and reveals Jesus’ goodness to the world, through her intercession, grant to us the grace…(ask for the grace you wish to obtain through the intercession of the Mother Esperanza). We ask this of you, trusting in the help of Mary, Mediatrix of the Mercy we will sing eternally. (Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be) – prayer for the intercession of Mother Esperanza, nulla obstat by Bishop Decio Lucio Grandoni, Diocese of Orvieto-Todi, 8 February 1984
MLA Citation
- “Blessed Esperanza de Jesus“. CatholicSaints.Info. 17 May 2020. Web. 28 May 2020. <>