Nolan Angeles during his trip to the Basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians in Turin, Italy.—Contributed photos
Every weekend, Nolan Angeles finds the time to go out and explore the provinces. But unlike most tourists seeking local delicacies or popular destinations, Angeles searches for a specific image of the Virgin Mary—one that depicts her as “Help of Christians.”
He has been taking these trips both to fulfill a Catholic devotion and meet a “challenge” he accepted out of love for his ailing mother.
A resident of Mandaluyong City and head of the local government’s cultural and tourism office, Angeles said he had lost count—but didn’t mind the mounting cost—of his pilgrimages.
He is actually still paying off the loan he used for a foreign trip he took in 2015 to see the painted image of Mary Help of Christians in its basilica in Turin, Italy.
Angeles has been taking trips to the provinces with his image of Mary Help of Christians, which once became his airplane seatmate on a flight to Cebu.
An alumnus of Don Bosco College Mandaluyong, the 47-year-old Angeles said the devotion came naturally to him at an early age, since Mary Help of Christians is the patroness of the Salesian Society, which was founded by St. John Bosco in 1859.
It started, however, not in school but at home—thanks to his mother Erlinda, a devotee of Our Lady of Fatima, who taught her two sons to pray the rosary every night.
He kept the habit throughout his youth and later took it to “the next level” after experiencing two life-changing events as an adult.
Nolan’s mother Erlinda (seated) with Mandaluyong Mayor Menchie Abalos
Keen interest
The first was the simple Marian exhibit held at the Mandaluyong City Hall in 2012. Being the cultural office chief, Angeles was tasked by then Mayor Benhur Abalos to supervise the setup, which had Mary Help of Christians as one of the featured images.
The organizers noticed his keen interest in the image, though it no longer surprised them since they knew he graduated from Don Bosco. At the end of the exhibit, Angeles recalled, one of them approached and urged him to have his own Mary Help of Christians image.
He embraced the idea right there and then, thinking it was the start of a calling.
Compared to other titles conferred by the Catholic Church on the mother of Christ—Our Lady of Fatima, Mother of Perpetual Help, and others —Mary Help of Christians is not as popular among the Filipino faithful, Angeles noted.
In the Philippines, devotion to the image can be traced back to 1922, when Archbishop William Piani was designated Apostolic Delegate to the country by Pope Pius XI. Spending 27 years in the country, Piani helped spread the devotion to Mary Help of Christians, whose feast day is on May 24.
Shortly after the City Hall exhibit, Angeles had a wooden Marian image made by a craftsman in Bulacan. He had since been taking it along to join Marian processions in different cities and towns across the country, sometimes as many as five a month.
Copassenger
At one point, he found himself “booked” for two processions in a single day—one in San Pedro, Laguna province, in the morning and another in Malabon City in the afternoon.
To make it to one procession in Cebu, he bought an extra seat on the plane just for the image.
The second event that deepened his devotion was more personal. In 2014, his mother was hospitalized and had a pacemaker installed because of complications from diabetes.
In hindsight, Angeles said his family managed to weather the crisis and “survive it smoothly” owing to his Marian devotion.
“I prayed to Mary Help of Christians, asking her to heal my mother, give her a longer life, and I promised that I would further spread the devotion to her,” he told the Inquirer in an interview. “We all want our parents to be with us for the longest possible time.”
He has since resumed his trips to the provinces—no longer just to join processions but also to look for images of Mary Help of Christians.
“My goal is to discover areas where there are images (of her), especially since there are communities that have Mary Help of Christians in their church or chapel but the people there do not really know who she is and refer to her simply as the Virgin Mary,” he said.
Work for National Shrine
To date, this mission has brought him to La Union, Vinzons in Camarines Norte, Leon in Iloilo, and Lumayang in Zamboanga del Sur.
One of the chapels Angeles “discovered” as part of his personal mission. This one is in Barangay Lumayang, Zamboanga del Sur.
After those quick weekend trips, Angeles returns and shares what he learned about the parishes and communities with the staff of the National Shrine of Mary Help of Christians in Better Living, Parañaque City.
The staff then contacts the local churches “discovered” by Angeles and establishes a network with them.
With his knowledge and wealth of experience on the subject, Angeles has also cowritten literature about Mary Help of Christians for the National Shrine.
Angeles attributes many “miracles” in his personal life to what he has been doing for the Blessed Virgin.
“A miracle is not only when the blind can see or the cripple can walk. It’s the everyday kindness we receive. There are miracles happening to us every day but we just don’t notice them,” he said.
Seeing his 70-year-old mother doing well each day is one of them.
Whenever he’s asked why he chose Mary Help of Christians, he would always say: “It’s not me who chose her, rather it’s the other way around … Let’s not ask why we were chosen; instead, we should just do our part.”