The Basilica of Our Lady of Mercy () is a minor basilica in Yarumal, Colombia. It belongs to the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Osos and is the seat of the parish of the same name. The basilica is devoted to the Virgin Mary, and the patron saint is the Virgin of Mercy. It is the titular church of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga.

It was designed and built in the Renaissance Revival style as a larger replacement for Yarumal's first church. Begun in 1866, the construction project suffered from multiple difficulties including its enormous cost, the civil wars in the late nineteenth century, its partial collapse in 1890, and an earthquake in 1938. These delayed completion of the church until 1944, at which point it was consecrated. During construction, the Chapel of Saint Aloysius (formerly the cemetery chapel) was made a parish church.

The basilica is rectangular, divided longitudinally into three parts. The main façade is made up of two domed towers joined by the central nave. It is home to several works of art, notably Nuestra Señora de la Merced, a 1798 painting of the Virgin of Mercy that is considered to be miraculous.

In 1998, the Municipal Council of Yarumal declared the basilica and the Chapel of Saint Aloysius a cultural and architectural landmark of the municipality. On 12 August 1999, Pope John Paul II granted the church the title of minor basilica. Since 2000, the church has been home to the remains of the poet Epifanio Mejía, the author of the Himno Antioqueño.

History The basilica's construction suffered many setbacks. The devastation of the Colombian civil wars in the late nineteenth century, the large scale of the project and its high cost, the partial collapse of a part of the structure in 1890, and an earthquake in 1938 all caused construction to last more than eighty years.

19th century

Yarumal, originally named Saint Luis of Góngora, was founded in 1787. From the beginning it had a straw chapel, where the priests from Santa Rosa de Osos held religious ceremonies that were sporadically attended by the new population. In 1790, the parish of Saint Luis of Góngora was established (now the parish of Our Lady of Mercy).

By 1850, it was obvious that a larger church needed to be built, as the town had 3,000 inhabitants and the old building was too small. On 20 December 1860, Father Julián Palacio gathered the townspeople in the square, informed them of this need, and urged them to provide all the help they could. He then formed the first committee to begin work on the church.

In a meeting held on 15 January 1861, Father Julián Palacio suggested that they begin work on the church in April of the same year. In the same meeting, he authorised the first purchase of boards for the rammed earth walls so that they would be dry when they went into use.

As it was a large project, people soon began to offer their services to work on the church. On 5 February 1861, Gregorio Álvarez offered his services as bricklayer and director of the work for two reals and three pesos a day. On the sixth of this month, Father Julián Palacio planted the first stone and began to raise funds.

Meanwhile, a request was filed for the bishop from the Diocese of Antioquia to authorize construction. On 2 March 1861, the townspeople received a message back, providing the license for the new church. The bishop urged the committee to be as organized as possible so that construction would proceed smoothly, and so the board drafted seven chapters of regulations.

The work was financed by alms, collections, mandatory contributions, raffles, bazaars, and the sale of farms that some benefactors had donated to the Church.

On 4 July 1865, Santos Sánchez offered his services to direct the architecture and masonry work for five pesos a day, but was not approved. On this same date, a meeting was scheduled with Policarpo Rivera to make an offer to buy land with the intention of establishing a factory to supply tiles for construction. Rivera donated this land for free, as well as the rights to build a shed and use the mud, with the only condition that the land be returned when construction was finished. Around this same time, the committee hired work from some Lime kilns in the Sepultura villages.

On 25 August of the same year, José María Zapata Muñoz was hired to direct the architecture and masonry work, at a rate of four pesos a day, with the agreement that he would also provide paintings and statues. Four years later he was joined by Floro Hernández, and on 18 July 1869, by Francisco Arroyave and Francisco Puerta.

On 2 April 1866, demolition of the old church was begun by Gregorio Álvarez. The land beneath the former church belonged to the parish and was adjacent to land belonging to the municipality, located north of Bolivar Square (today Epifanio Mejía park). Neither area had precisely defined limits. Much later, both parties came to an agreement to demarcate the properties.

On the same day the former church was demolished, Father Julián Palacio sent an official letter to the judicial vicar, Valerio Antonio Jiménez, which explained the need to demolish the former church in order to build the new one, and requested permission to build the Chapel of Our Lady of Carmen (now known as the Chapel of Saint Aloysius). The license for this arrived from Marinilla on 17 April 1866.

On 1 July 1866, the Julián Palacio sent a request to the Ecclesiastical Government, explaining that as the former church had been demolished, the cemetery chapel needed to be expanded. Initially the former cemetery lot was to be sold to finance the new cemetery, but the villagers were enthusiastic to expand the chapel, and proposed that the money be used to buy the land in front of the chapel to form a small square. The application was approved by Monsignor Valerio Antonio Jiménez.

On 14 February 1868, Pope Pius IX ordered the seat of the Diocese of Antioquia, which had operated there since 1828, to be moved to Medellín under the new name Diocese of Medellín and Antioquia. The parish of Yarumal remained under its ecclesiastical jurisdiction.

With the chapel expanded and remodeled, Julián Palacio requested and was approved by Bishop José Joaquín Isaza Ruíz to bless the chapel where Mass was being held, since the main church was not yet finished.

On 4 February 1873, the Diocese of Antioquia was restored, and the parish of Yarumal was returned to its jurisdiction. The seat in Medellín returned to simply being called the Diocese of Medellín.

In 1876, construction was forced to a halt by the political–religious civil war from 1876 to 1877. On 1 September 1881, the board decided to restart the work on the church. They contacted architect José María Zapata to begin on 1 December, and hired Manuel Antonio Misas to provide six thousand bricks for 38 pesos. However, Misas and the board had their differences, and the agreement was canceled, with the board paying a fine of 24 pesos to avoid legal action.

José María Zapata arrived in Yarumal from Medellín in the first week of December 1881 to take charge of the project, fulfilling his agreement with the board and with Father Aldemar Palacio (priest from 26 September 1875 to 5 August 1895).

In June 1884, priest Uladislao Ortiz and Marco A. Mejía, sent the board a letter in which they requested approval to begin building the right tower of the church, without affecting the work being carried out within. They were approved to give 3,000 pesos, which was the approximate cost of the tower.

This date marked the beginning of many problems, with construction constantly starting and stopping for reasons including more unrest, lack of finances, and the urgency of building a bridge over the Nechí River to join Medellín and the neighbouring villages.

On 18 June 1889, when one of the sacristies was already finished, Bishop Jesús María Rodríguez authorised the priest to celebrate Mass and administer the Sacrament of Penance in the church while it was under construction. During the pastoral visit on 17 August of the same year he ordered work to resume. He also approved the oratory, and allowed religious functions to continue while construction concluded.

On 25 January 1890, the work was again stopped, this time because senior officer Ricardo Pérez and architect Zapata retired without prior notice. Several days later, José María Zapata Muñoz resigned as the director of construction, and on 6 February of the same year the portico and the dome of the temple collapsed while under construction. In a meeting on 15 February, the board accepted Zapata's resignation. They believed the collapse was possibly due to two causes: structural issues with the design, or to the interruptions in work contributing to unsteadiness in the construction.

This misfortune was not received well by the community, who blamed those in charge of the project. Following these complaints, the board called a public meeting on 17 February 1890 in which all members resigned, leaving the public free to elect new and more able members. The village people responded to this by urging the board not resign, after which the members decided to retain their positions. The board met two days later to evaluate the situation and find an architect to examine the construction, determine what needed to be demolished, and be placed in charge of the work. Zapata never returned to Yarumal.

The frame of the church was designed by Victoriano Palacio, and reviewed on 21 May 1894 by Tomás Vásquez, who found it satisfactory. However, because of the earlier collapse, the board resolved to have the project examined by an engineer. Until it was approved, all carpentry was to remain suspended. In the meantime, they focused on work on the tower. Heliodoro Medina was the authorized to find said engineer, and he hired Heliodoro Ochoa to review the project. On 10 August 1894, a well-attended meeting was held. The engineer recommended not building the portico because of his concerns regarding its stability. The board and townspeople agreed that the portico not be built, and hired Ochoa to design the front face of the building.

Ochoa later suggested that the rear of the church be roofed in wood, instead of the original stone dome. This proposal was approved by majority vote. After this, Ochoa examined the previous construction and found the carpentry and masonry work to be stable.

But not all news was positive. On 21 February 1895, the work was once again stopped due to lack of funds and difficulties collecting them. The only ones who continued to work—although at half speed—were the masons, with goal of storing the materials until work was restarted. On the same date, all members of the board were asked to resign. Beginning on 4 August 1895, the work on the temple remained practically paralysed. Funds had run out, and left with no alternative, the board ordered the church be condemned on 12 October 1895.

After seeing the state of the building, Father Ildefonso Tirado began to hold religious ceremonies in the new church on 11 May 1899 to try to encourage the population to donate. The Thousand Days War, one of Colombia's bloodiest civil wars, began that year.

20th century

The 20th century seemed to begin with better luck. In February 1900, they began to build wooden grilles for the stained glass windows of the church. On 27 December of the same year, the Board authorised Díaz to begin work on the bell tower. On 15 February 1901, construction began on the wooden side doors; work on the main door did not begin until 20 July 1903. On 20 May 1901, the Daughters of María congregation installed the altar of the Immaculate Conception that they had commissioned with the board's approval in 1898. Heliodoro Ochoa was brought back to Yarumal from Medellín to continue his work, and along with Juan Nepomuceno Gómez, worked on to create the latches for the bell tower and buildings. On 22 July 1901, Victoriano Palacio was chosen to direct the tiling of the church.