By CatholicVote | Created at 2024-11-15 00:36:18 | Updated at 2024-11-23 08:03:57
1 week ago
CV NEWS FEED // The U.S. bishops this week approved the advancement of the cause for sainthood of Minnesota Sister Annella Zervas, O.S.B.
Born in 1900, as a young girl, Sister Annella had a deep interior life. She placed great importance on preparing for her first Holy Communion and would walk a mile daily to attend Mass, according to the Sister Annella Guild.
Sister Annella entered the Order of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minnesota, in 1915 at the age of 15. She professed her perpetual vows in 1922 and worked as a music teacher at St. Mary’s School in Bismarck, North Dakota, until a debilitating and painful skin disease she had contracted eventually rendered her work impossible.
Sister Annella had pityriasis rubra pilaris and received the diagnosis in 1924 at the University of Minnesota. The skin disease had no medical treatments at the time, and with permission from her superiors, she was transferred to her parents’ home in Moorhead, where her mother cared for her until her death.
In a biography of Sister Annella titled, “An Apostle of Suffering in Our Day,” Father Kreuter wrote, “The pains became more intense; the patient’s cheerfulness remained the same… ‘Yes, Lord, send me more pain, but give me the strength to bear it,’ is a prayer that was repeatedly uttered by Sister Annella in the midst of excruciating pains of body and anguish of soul which lasted almost continually for two long years.”
She died at the age of 26 in 1926 in her family home in Moorhead, Minnesota.
Bishop Anderew Cozzens, of the Crookston Diocese in Minnesota, spoke to the United States Bishops Conference (USCCB) at its plenary session this week in Baltimore, asking their approval to advance Sister Annella’s cause for beatification and canonization. His remarks follow below.
Bishop Andrew Cozzens on the saintly life of Sister Annela Zervas, O.S.B.:
Born and raised in the Diocese of Crookston in Moorhead, Minnesota, Sister Annella’s story has made an impact on the faithful in Minnesota and beyond.
Her story touches the heart of our Catholic faith, teaching us that even the greatest suffering when united with Christ becomes a powerful means of redemption and intimacy with God, enriching our understanding of what it means to be fully human.
For years, small and large groups of people have gathered at her grave during spring and summer and fall to pray for her beatification and canonization, seeking her intercession, and also giving thanks for favors received. Her influence has spread beyond Minnesota with devotion to her growing internationally through documentaries and songs and booklets that have inspired the people of God to seek her guidance.
Sister Annella was a simple soul who lived an ordinary Christian and religious life, but through her growing in her life of prayer, she was able to embrace intense suffering for the love of God and his people. As a child, she was drawn to frequent communion and would often walk to daily Mass in the Fargo-Moorhead area, even in the cold weather of northern Minnesota. And as a religious sister, receiving the Eucharist was the most important moment of her day.
‘Exemplary’ model in suffering
She also knew and valued the importance of one’s vocation. She often prayed that people would not miss their vocation. She can be a special intercessor for our youth, especially so many of our young people who speak about discovering their vocations in Eucharistic Adoration.
Her life exemplifies the value of suffering. She had intense and unexplainable suffering in her short life. Suffering is such a profound part, of course, of all of our lives, and it’s important that when we suffer, whatever the cause, we come to know that we’re not alone.
Sister Annella knew our Lord was with her in her suffering, and she lived this truth daily. And she invites us, each of us, to see that our suffering can have value when we allow the Lord to suffer in us. Our Holy Father reminded us of this so beautifully in his recent encyclical on the Sacred Heart.
Sister Annella witnessed, most especially, to the suffering of those who are often forgotten in society, often people in nursing homes and hospitals. Her story has been an inspiration to many people facing difficult trials. Stories have been shared with us, including recovery from the wounds of abortion, addiction, severe illness, the pain of suicidal thoughts.
Her intercession has reportedly healed many people, and some say she has appeared to people in visions, always extending God’s confidence and peace. Many people have expressed that her witness to the value of suffering has helped them to embrace their own suffering with faith in God’s goodness.
Her life reminds us of what God and the Church desire for us, a Christian family supportive of our vocation, the offering of all of our things through Mary’s care, reliance on God’s will above all things, a renewed love for the Eucharist, friendship with Christ, and total surrender to God, even in difficulty.
