The rector of the National Shrine and Parish of the Divine Mercy in Marilao, Bulacan, succumbed to cancer on Wednesday, September 11, the Diocese of Malolos announced.
Monsignor Ranilo Trillana died at about 5 a.m. at a hospital in Bulacan. He was 67. “He passed away after a long battle with cancer,” the diocese said.
Msgr. Trillana had been battling prostate cancer and admitted that the journey had been challenging for him. “I had my questions during the hardest times when I was battling Stage-4 cancer… That was the time when the Lord drew my heart to cling to the image of the Divine Mercy,” he said during the Luzon Apostolic Congress on Mercy in 2023.
“The Divine Mercy is truly miraculous, without a doubt. Having a deeper and more intimate relationship with our Lord Jesus is a miracle in itself,” he said.
A priest for 39 years, Msgr. Trillana had served in various parishes, including the Minor Basilica of La Purisima Concepcion in Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
Born in Brgy. Sta. Monica, Hagonoy, he was ordained priest at the town’s National Shrine of St. Anne on March 7, 1985.