Her saints go with her wherever she goes

I have a small traveling box where I keep relics of 14 saints I call my companion saints. They go with me wherever I go. I want them to be near other people too so I carry them with me even when I’m just at the grocery,” Nora Ilagan says when we meet.

Nora Ilagan does not at all look her 82 years. Married to a lawyer who recently passed on, Nora has always been a Marian devotee and has participated in various religious activities including joining pilgrimages. She is also the author of the book, God Speaks to a Filipina, which is now in its 12th edition.

But most significant of all, since she considers saints as her intercessors, she collects relics of saints, statues and rosaries.

“As a Marian devotee, I wanted to know everything about her. That obsession, I believe, is what led me to collect. I guess it started from there,” explains Nora of her collection.

Little do most people know, there are three kinds of relics. “First-class relics are actual parts of the bodies of saints — their teeth, bones or ashes. Second-class relics are things that were worn or used by the saints, while third-class relics are items the saints touched,” explains Nora.

In her collection, she has close to 200 third-class items, 100 or so second-class relics and 50 first-class relics. “Sayang I don’t keep an inventory of the relics I have but I put tags on them so I won’t forget where they came from, but there are so many of them that I am not able to label all of them,” says Nora.

A visit to Nora’s home is a totally overwhelming experience. Surely, living among relics, rosaries and images of saints has kept her in closest touch with God.

“Some of these relics were given to me by priests and bishops. Some I acquired during the many pilgrimage trips I have made. I bring pieces of cloth with me and I touch sacred places and statues with them and they become relics,” she explains.

“Most of the relics, especially the first-class ones come, with a certification from the Vatican. It’s proof of authenticity,” Nora proclaims.

“There is a club of relics collectors. We get together sometimes and we also go on pilgrimages together,” she adds.

Considering the number of Nora’s relics and the many significant religious holidays and feast days, churches borrow her relics often.

Among her valued relics are ashes of St. Martin de Porrres, a scab of the wound of Padre Pio’s stigmata and a piece of cloth from his habit. Her collection also includes soil from Epheus, Turkey where Mama Mary used to live.

The rosary collection is made of old or broken rosaries she would ask for from her friends. She would then fix them and keep them.

“The 14 relics of saints that go with me wherever I go are strands of hair of Mother Theresa, a blue cloth that touched the hair and veil of the Blessed Mother, relics from the three Our Lady of Fatima martyrs, St. Maria Goretti, Padre Pio, a piece of a column during the scourging of the pillar of Jesus Christ, St. Therese of the Infant Jesus, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Catherine Labouri, Ansgarill (an early martyr), St. Alphonsus Mary de Ligouri, St. Clement (third pope after St. Peter) and a stone that St. Michael stepped on,” she recites.

“I believe that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We just need to reconnect with our faith. Marami na kasing masamang nangyayari ngayon hindi lang sa bansa natin but worldwide. I believe we need to pray for those who cannot,” Nora muses.

True to her beliefs, connectivity and conviction, Nora goes to church at 6:30 a.m. every day and then to the adoration chapel by 11 a.m.; by 12:15 p.m. she is hearing a second Mass.

This year marks the centenary of the Fatima Apparition. As a devotee, Nora celebrated her would-be 60th wedding anniversary in Portugal where Our Lady of Fatima appeared. It is unfortunate that her husband passed away before the actual date. So she went on the pilgrimage alone, joining the procession and visiting the house of Lucia and Jacinta, two of the three children from Fatima.

The strength in Nora’s connectivity to her faith has kept the optimist in her alive and allows her to see the good that can still come out of a sometimes violent, suffering and unjust world. Her daughter, Tina, says she and the rest of the family benefit from all that Nora does and they experience the blessings their family has received — among others, success in business, peace, and tranquility and fulfilment in life.

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Email the author at nikkicoseteng2017@gmail.com or text her at 0997-4337154.