The Nocturnal Pilgrimage to Castel di Leva and the Cult of Our Lady of Divine Love

Representación artística de Nuestra Señora del Divino Amor.

The Agro Romano Enclave and the Medieval Fresco of Castel di Leva

In 1081, a bull issued by Pope Gregory VII provided the earliest documentary record of the rural territory south of Rome, designated as Casale Castellione and assigned to the Abbey of Saint Paul Outside the Walls. By 1295, the property had passed into the hands of the Savelli family, who fortified the position by constructing the Castrum Leonis—subsequently corrupted into Castel di Leva—complete with perimeter stone walls and defensive watchtowers. Within one of these gate towers, an anonymous artist executed a mural fresco depicting the Virgin Mary enthroned with the Christ Child beneath the descending dove of the Holy Spirit. Stylistic assessment generally dates the artwork between the late thirteenth and the fourteenth centuries, associating its manner with the Roman school of Pietro Cavallini, though no documentary evidence survives regarding the painter's identity.

The agrarian estate changed administration in 1570 when the priest Cosimo Giustini transferred ownership of Castel di Leva to Roman charitable foundations, specifically the Conservatorio di Santa Caterina della Rosa and the Casa degli Orfani. As the medieval fortress deteriorated over the subsequent two centuries, the gate tower fell into ruin, leaving the painted plaster exposed to the elements along the remote pastoral tracks of the Roman countryside.

The 1740 Incident and the Removal of the Fresco

Popular tradition records that in the spring of 1740, a traveller lost in the marshy pastures near Castel di Leva found himself cornered by a pack of feral farm dogs. Looking up toward the masonry tower, he observed the weathered image and shouted an invocation for preservation to the Virgin. According to traditional accounts, the animals abruptly retreated, allowing the uninjured wayfarer to reach safety. While eighteenth-century ecclesiastical records do not preserve the name of the traveller, the reported event initiated an immediate influx of rural pilgrims to the ruin.

The rapid gathering of unregulated crowds prompted an official pastoral inspection by the Cardinal Vicar Giovanni Antonio Guadagni between 5 September 1740 and 1742. To safeguard the painting from decay and public disorder, Guadagni ordered the detachment of the fresco from the masonry. The physical extraction in 1742 caused noticeable material losses across the plaster support and ignited a jurisdictional dispute between the Chapter of Saint John Lateran and the Conservatorio di Santa Caterina della Rosa regarding titular control of the shrine. Pending resolution and construction of a dedicated chapel, the extracted fragment was transferred for safekeeping to the neighbouring rural parish of Santa Maria ad Magos in Falcognana.

Filippo Raguzzini’s Sanctuary and Eighteenth-Century Consecration

To provide a permanent home for the relic, the Neapolitan architect Filippo Raguzzini was commissioned to design a dedicated Baroque church upon the hill of Castel di Leva. On Easter Monday, 19 April 1745, the fresco was solemnly translated from Falcognana to Raguzzini's completed sanctuary, with Pope Benedict XIV granting a plenary indulgence to pilgrims attending the ceremony. The liturgical completion of the complex culminated on 31 May 1750 during the Holy Year, when Cardinal Carlo Rezzonico—the future Pope Clement XIII—presided over the formal dedication of the church and its high altar, establishing Our Lady of Divine Love as a recognised focus of regional pilgrimage.

The theological title of Divina Divini Amoris reflects the iconographical presence of the Holy Spirit. Unlike apparitions characterised by visionary claims or private revelations, the devotional practice at Castel di Leva developed strictly around the veneration of the medieval icon, where the descending dove signifies the uncreated love uniting the Trinity.

Don Umberto Terenzi and Pastoral Restoration in the Twentieth Century

Despite eighteenth-century prominence, the remote sanctuary suffered decades of structural neglect and seasonal isolation due to malaria in the Agro Romano. In December 1931, the Roman priest Don Umberto Terenzi was assigned to Castel di Leva, assuming the rectorship of an abandoned site lacking electricity and paved roads. In 1932, the Vicariate of Rome canonically erected the parish of Santa Maria del Divino Amore, positioning Terenzi to lead a thorough material and spiritual revival. On 25 March 1942, Terenzi established the religious congregation of the Daughters of the Virgin of Divine Love (Figlie della Madonna del Divino Amore), founding nursery schools, vocational orphanages, and permanent pastoral programmes for the rural population of the Agro.

The Civic Vow of 4 June 1944

The strategic vulnerability of Rome during the Allied advance and German occupation in 1944 brought the sanctuary into central civic prominence. As front lines approached and aerial bombardments threatened historic quarters, ecclesiastical authorities transferred the fourteenth-century fresco inside the city walls for protection, ultimately placing it upon the high altar of the church of Sant'Ignazio di Loyola.

On 4 June 1944, Roman citizens, clergy, and civic representatives gathered at Sant'Ignazio to pronounce a formal collective vow. The canonical formulation was directed to the Virgin under the historic patronage of Salus Populi Romani before the displayed image of the Madonna of Divine Love. The vow bound the city to three distinct commitments: moral reform of Christian life, the construction of a new sanctuary at Castel di Leva, and the establishment of an enduring charitable foundation for orphaned children. That very evening, German forces conducted an orderly withdrawal via the northern roads, sparing the city catastrophic urban warfare. On 11 June 1944, Pope Pius XII visited Sant'Ignazio to offer an official discourse of thanksgiving, sealing the association between the city's survival and the icon of our lady of divine love.

The Nocturnal Foot Pilgrimage from Porta Capena

The signature expression of living popular devotion at the sanctuary is the nocturnal walking pilgrimage. Initiated systematically during the postwar era, the walk takes place every Saturday night from the end of April through to the end of October. Pilgrims assemble around midnight at the Piazza di Porta Capena in the historical centre of Rome, near the Circus Maximus and the Church of San Gregorio Magno al Celio.

Organised liturgically under the guidance of the diocesan pilgrimage bureau, the Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi, the procession departs along the initial stretch of the Via Appia Antica before branching onto the narrow, undulating tarmac of the Via Ardeatina. Over a distance of approximately 14 kilometres, the cohort traverses urban periphery and unlit agricultural country on foot. Guided by a lead vehicle bearing an illuminated crucifix, pilgrims recite the rosary, sing traditional litanies, and maintain extended intervals of silent meditation throughout the night. The journey concludes at dawn with arrival at Castel di Leva, where pilgrims attend the first morning Mass celebrated in the sanctuary complex.

The New Sanctuary and the Completion of the 1944 Vow

Although the civic vow of 1944 mandated the erection of an expanded church, logistical obstacles, zoning disputes within the protected archaeological belt of the Agro Romano, and funding limitations delayed construction for decades. Architectural execution was finally realised through a modern design formulated by the Franciscan friar Costantino Ruggeri alongside the architect Luigi Leoni. Built into the slope of the hill beneath Raguzzini’s eighteenth-century structure, the New Sanctuary integrates expansive stained glass panels, local tufa stone, and reinforced concrete.

On 4 July 1999, Pope John Paul II formally consecrated the New Sanctuary, bringing the structural promise made by the citizens of Rome in 1944 to its official conclusion. The modern complex accommodates thousands of worshippers while preserving the fragile historic church above as a dedicated chapel for perpetual Eucharistic adoration and personal prayer before the medieval image of our lady of divine love.

Integration into the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome

Historically established by Saint Philip Neri in the sixteenth century, the Seven Pilgrim Churches itinerary required walking between the major patriarchal basilicas and prominent suburban shrines: Saint Peter, Saint Paul Outside the Walls, Saint John Lateran, Saint Mary Major, Saint Lawrence Outside the Walls, Holy Cross in Jerusalem, and Saint Sebastian Outside the Walls. For the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, Pope John Paul II introduced an institutional pastoral modification by designating the Sanctuary of Castel di Leva as the official alternative to San Sebastiano on the traditional circuit.

This alteration recognised the living spiritual dynamism of the weekly Ardeatina walk. Rather than functioning solely as an antiquarian monument, the sanctuary of our lady of divine love provides an active setting where contemporary pilgrims replicate the nocturnal, penitential conditions characteristic of early Christian and Counter-Reformation pilgrimage practices.

Tombs, Ex-Votos, and Diocesan Titular Status

The interior ambulatories and crypt of the complex house substantial physical documentation of twentieth-century Roman social history. Thousands of votive tablets, military helmets from the world wars, hospital tags, and inscribed marble plaques line the corridors, testifying to private crises and answered prayers. On 28 October 2001, the mortal remains of the Blessed Luigi Beltrame Quattrocchi and Maria Corsini—the first married couple beatified together in modern Catholic history—were solemnly translated to the crypt of the New Sanctuary, reinforcing its role as a centre for family ministry.

In recognition of its standing within the local Church, Pope Francis instituted the titular diaconate of Santa Maria del Divino Amore a Castel di Leva on 28 November 2020, assigning it to Cardinal Enrico Feroci, who had served for years as the sanctuary's rector and director of the diocesan Caritas. This formalisation anchored the once-remote rural shrine into the formal hierarchy of the Roman clergy.

Sources and further reading

Frequently Asked Questions

Did the Virgin Mary physically appear at Castel di Leva?

No physical apparition or spoken locution is claimed in the historical record. Devotion at Castel di Leva centres upon a medieval wall fresco depicting the Virgin and Child under the Holy Spirit, which was preserved within a ruined medieval watchtower and venerated after an uninjured traveller attributed his survival to an invocation before the image in 1740.

What is the route and timing of the nocturnal pilgrimage?

The walking pilgrimage occurs every Saturday night from late April to late October. Pilgrims depart at midnight from Piazza di Porta Capena in central Rome, traversing approximately 14 kilometres via the Via Appia Antica and the Via Ardeatina to reach the sanctuary at Castel di Leva at daybreak for morning Mass.

Why is the shrine called Divine Love?

The title refers dogmatically to the Holy Spirit, who is traditionally designated in Christian theology as uncreated Divine Love. The icon depicts the Holy Spirit descending as a dove above the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child, emphasising the Trinitarian nature of the Incarnation.

What was the Roman civic vow of 4 June 1944?

Facing the imminent destruction of Rome during the Second World War, citizens and ecclesiastical authorities gathered at the church of Sant'Ignazio to pledge moral renewal, the construction of a new sanctuary at Castel di Leva, and charitable works for orphans if the city were spared bombardment during the German evacuation.

When was the New Sanctuary at Castel di Leva completed?

Although promised in the wartime vow of 1944, construction was delayed for decades due to archaeological and environmental restrictions in the Agro Romano. The modern New Sanctuary, designed by Costantino Ruggeri and Luigi Leoni, was formally consecrated by Pope John Paul II on 4 July 1999.

How did the sanctuary become part of the Seven Pilgrim Churches?

For the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, Pope John Paul II integrated the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Divine Love into the historic Seven Pilgrim Churches itinerary established by Saint Philip Neri, designating it as an official alternative route to the suburban basilica of San Sebastiano fuori le mura.