Holy Angels is a private, nonprofit corporation that provides innovative programs and services for its residents – children and adults with varying degrees of mental retardation, some of whom have physical disabilities and are medically fragile.

History: Maria to the Present

Holy Angels is a remarkable place and the story of its beginning is remarkable as well. It is the story of Maria. Doctors did not expect the baby girl to live long beyond her December 20, 1955, birth. She was born medically fragile, with multiple disabilities. If she lived, the doctors said, the baby would have serious medical problems, severe mental retardation and physical disabilities.

Her young mother sought help from the Sisters of Mercy who operated a day care center under the direction of Sister Marie Patrice Manley. On a cold January in 1956, the young mother, a worker in one of the textile mills in Belmont, began to bring her fragile child to Sr. Patrice. When the baby became seriously ill, the mother asked the sisters to care for her child.

Each sister took turns caring for the infant who was named, Maria. She began to thrive with their attention and lots of medical care. She grew and developed far better than expected as you can see from the photo of Maria with Mother MaryBenignus Hoban, who co-founded Holy Angels, at left. Soon, other parents of children with multiple disabilities and mental retardation asked the Sisters of Mercy for help. The sisters realized that there was truly a need for a home that offered loving compassionate care for children with special needs. Always willing to answer God's call, the Sisters set up a home, which eventually became Holy Angels. Mother Benignus, affectionately called Mother B, called the children who came to live there, “God’s innocents.” Mother B served as president of Holy Angels until 1997. She died on December 30, 2000 at the age of 94.

The late Kays Gary, a North Carolina newspaper columnist, wrote about Maria, the Sisters of Mercy and the other children. His friend, syndicated columnist, Jim Bishop, wrote stories, too. These articles touched the hearts of people throughout the country who demonstrated their love for Holy Angels and its residents through gifts of financial support and prayers.

Then on October 2, 1961 – the Feast of the Guardian Angels – a new wing was formally dedicated to the compassionate care, education and development of children with mental retardation and other disabilities. What until then had been called “the Nursery” became Holy Angels. Later, in 1972, the newly built Main Center, now the Morrow Center, opened.