Annella Zervas

(born Anna Cordelia Zervas; April 7, 1900 – August 14, 1926) was an American Catholic religious sister who joined the Benedictines at a young age and died at 26 after a three-year battle with pityriasis rubra pilaris.

[2] Her father, Hubert Zervas, an immigrant from the village of Immekeppel, in the German Empire, was a butcher and ran a local meat market.

Zervas was raised in a large family which attended St. Mary's Catholic Church in Moorhead, where her father was the choir director and a member of the Knights of Columbus.

After I had spoken some words of encouragement and explained to her, in short, the excellence of the religious state, she left happy and contented.

"[3] Hubert Zervas wrote several years later that he and his wife had then "gladly consented to give back the child to Him from Whom they had received her.

On June 17, 1918, she received the habit and her new religious name in a ceremony conducted by Joseph Francis Busch, the Bishop of the Diocese of St.

'"[5] She took her final vows in 1922 and was assigned as a music teacher and organist to St. Mary's Convent in Bismarck, North Dakota.

During the summer of 1923, Zervas noticed a small reddish-brown patch on her arm which itched terribly, and her body began to swell.

[6] In June 1924, Zervas was transferred to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where she was diagnosed with Pityriasis Rubra Pilaris.

[7] Dermatologist Dr. Elizabeth Blixt, suggests that it is possible that Zervas's underlying illness may have led to erythroderma, a complication which could have contributed to her death.

As a novena was offered for her at Our Lady of Victory Basilica in Lackawanna, New York, her condition seemed to enter its final phase.

[12] After a requiem Mass at her parents' parish church in Moorhead, Zervas's remains were transported to St. Benedict's and buried in the convent's cemetery.

"[13]Furthermore, within seven months of her burial at St. Benedict's Convent, Bishop Joseph Busch was hearing rumors of cures and favors granted through Zervas's intercession.

He asked Bendictine priest Alexius Hoffmann of St. John's Abbey to collect information on "the circumstances of her sickness and death and the origin and progress of the cultus, if any, in her regard and any evidences there may be of miraculous intervention through her intercession.

This account first appeared in the Josephinum Weekly, published at that time in Columbus, Ohio, and reprinted in other Catholic publications.

[16] According to journalist Vicki Ikeogu, local indifference to Sister Annella remained the case until 2008, when St. Cloud-based freelance writer and historian Brendan D. King learned of her while volunteering in the Archive Room of the Stearns County Historical Society and began researching.

According to Ikeogu, "Combing through archives within the monastery, King would uncover what he described as a compelling story on suffering and devotion to God.

"[17] When asked by Ikeogu why he thought interest in Sister Annella had disappeared in the 1960s, Brendan D. King cited the rapid cultural secularisation of once overwhelming Catholic Central Minnesota following the Second Vatican Council, but also stated, "I think, especially, the fact Sister Annella’s viewpoint on spirituality, the fact that suffering was not a curse, I think may have made a lot of people see her as strange.

An enthusiastic Norton immediately began mass-producing and giving away Zervas prayer cards and copies of Kreuter's pamphlet.

He also began organizing local Catholics into monthly gatherings at the St. Benedict's Monastery Lourdes grotto and the nearby convent cemetery, during which the Divine Mercy Chaplet and the rosary are prayed for Zervas' canonization.