Who is Nico d'Angeli from Children of God: A Novel and what is their importance? Children_of_God_(novel) English & Literature Nico d'Angeli | Children of God: A Novel

A Camorra (Mafia) bodyguard in the service of Carlo Giuliani, Nico is a simple-minded lover of operatic music and has a fine, albeit untrained voice. He accompanies the second Jesuit expedition to Rakhat aboard the Giordano Bruno, twice beating protagonist Emilio Sandoz unconscious when he resists Carlo, but later becomes Emilio's sworn protector. Nico is discounted as retarded, but remarks sagely, overhearing a conversation, that one hears God better when frightened because one listens more attentively. As the book progresses, Nico becomes less and less a thug. He prays the Hail Mary twice a day as the sisters have taught him. He prides himself on being named after the angels. The agnostic Captain Frans Vanderhelst asks for Nico's prayers that by the time Bruno returns to Earth there will be a cure for obesity. Frans' use of Schrödinger's analogy of cats in a box to God goes over Nico's head. In the end, Nico accompanies Carlo and Emilio back to Earth.