The Confraternity of Mercy of Sansepolcro is a voluntary association belonging to the Movement of the Confraternities of Mercy, founded in Florence in 1244 by Pietro da Verona, later known as Saint Peter Martyr. Today, the Confraternities of Mercy are present in Italy and abroad through more than 700 confraternities.
History
The Confraternity of Mercy of Sansepolcro is the city’s oldest lay association and has brought together volunteers since 1338 who freely devote their time to serving people in need, inspired by the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.
The oldest document mentioning the Confraternity of Mercy of Sansepolcro is a testamentary bequest dating from 1338. In 1445, the confraternity members commissioned Piero della Francesca to paint the Madonna of Mercy polyptych, from which the Confraternity’s coat of arms is derived. Following the suppression of all Confraternities in 1785 by the Grand Duke of Tuscany Pietro Leopoldo, the Bishop of Sansepolcro Roberto Costaguti officially re-established the Confraternity of Mercy on 25 November 1816. It incorporated the Company of the Crucifix and returned to its premises in the Church of Saint Roch. Its first documented activity was comforting and accompanying condemned prisoners to the scaffold. In the centuries that followed, it stood alongside the population during numerous epidemics and established the first hospitals to care for the sick.
Activities
- EMERGENCY/URGENT CARE SERVICE
- MEDICAL TRANSPORT
- SOCIAL SERVICES
- “BROKEN BREAD” PROJECT – FOOD AID SERVICE FOR PEOPLE IN NEED
- MEDICAL AND NURSING CLINIC
- CIVIL PROTECTION
- REINTEGRATION THROUGH PROBATION PLACEMENTS IN SOCIAL SERVICES
- CIVIL SERVICE
Contacts
Via N. Aggiunti, 73 – 52037 Sansepolcro (AR)
Tel. 0575-742749
misericordiasansepol@libero.it