around the middle of the seventeenth century a capuchin friar past among the stones and the grass the remains of a small cup from the bottom down with a leaf to handle, on the bottom of which was painted with a small image of the Madonna with Child; the friar deposed the image on a young oak to avoid being trampled upon. In 1657 a merchant of Casalina named Christofono, stared firmly the image to the oak to avoid that fell , and went there to pray to ask for the healing of his wife, who is seriously ill. A miraculous healing spread the news of the miracle and was built a small chapel that contained the oak and the sacred image. The ecclesiastical authority was obliged to interdirne access.
The cult was approved with the name of “Madonna of the Bathroom” and in 1687 was built a church, where still today are celebrated the liturgies. Its true name, as it reads above the altar ego Mater spei Santa is the Mother of the Holy Hope.
This is a small, delightful little church perfectly inserted and even camouflaged in the rustic fund that surrounds it. The current church, completed around 1687, is an extension of the first chapel, built between 1657 and 1658 at the behest of the Abbot of St Peter, on design and project of Don Cornelius from Perugia, Prior of the same monastery, and of the master mason Ruffino from Assisi.
The church is completely soffittata at a time. The interior has a rectangular plan, with three naves. The corridor behind the main altar served to the faithful for the advance. The pass was to enter and exit the church passing in front of the oak that welcomes the image and reciting certain prayers. At each pass was annexd an indulgence. Set like a precious stone or a relic in the high altar is preserved the oak tree on which the merciaio Cristoforo stared at the cup: a tree scheletrito scorteccieto, and marked by the nails of the ex-voto and by worms. This solution was conceived and desired to save the young plant from predace devotion of the faithful which did not concern for wringing from her the foliage, bark and tender twigs. But the remedy adopted caused irreparable damage to the plant, causing their death. The oak is also visible from the corridor behind the altar. Here is preserved the tile in ceramics that recalls the episode that gave origin to the devotion: the miraculous healing of the wife of Christopher. The tile broke between the hands of thieves who tried to rubarla in 1980 and was abandoned on the spot. Restored it is there, providentially, to remember the grace that is at the origin of the sanctuary.
Inside the sanctuary is preserved, walled on the walls, a heritage of approximately 700 tiles, votive all ceramic, covering a period of 350 years, from which it is possible to reconstruct the social and cultural events of the local population. Most of the tiles shows the abbreviation P.G.R i.e. for grace received, while more rarely the abbreviation V.F.G.A i.e. vow made grace had.
madonnadelbagno@virgilio.it