Sister Annella Zervas moves a step closer to sainthood

Benedictine nun, Sister Annella Zervas, is one step closer to being declared a saint by the Catholic Church. Bishop Andrew Cozzens of the Diocese of Crookston, Minnesota, announced that he had received the nihil obstat, a formal declaration from the Vatican meaning “nothing stands in the way” of her cause. The announcement confirms that the Diocese of Crookston is officially opening the cause for the canonisation of Sister Annella Zervas.

Sister Annella Zervas was born in 1900 in Moorhead, Minnesota, the daughter of immigrants. At just 15 years old, she left home to join the Order of St Benedict in St Joseph, Minnesota, and made her perpetual vows in 1922. The following year she began to suffer from a severe skin condition, later diagnosed as pityriasis rubra pilaris, for which there was no known cure at the time. In 1924, due to the severity of her illness, she was taken back to her parents’ house, with her sisters making regular visits. She was noted for her constant cheerfulness and good humour despite the suffering she endured.

Some treatments, such as dieting and osteopathy, seemed to bring relief from her symptoms, and her parents were hopeful of a recovery. However, in the summer of 1926, immediately after she came out of confession, she suffered a severe attack of pain. She died some days later, on the Feast of the Assumption, aged just 26.

Soon after her death, her intercession was said to obtain healing miracles from God. Known as the “apostle of suffering for our day”, she attracted increasing devotion, and many stories circulated of healings attributed to her prayers.

On 7 October 2010, Patrick Norton was painting light posts in front of the Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto at Saint Benedict’s in St Joseph, Minnesota. He offered a prayer to Mary, expressing hope that he was doing good work. Norton says that Sister Annella appeared to him and assured him that God was pleased.

Norton himself had been rescued by Mother Teresa as an infant after being abandoned. He lived in an orphanage in Mumbai until the age of 14, when he was adopted by an American family who brought him to Connecticut. Judge John Henry and Marjorie Norton, his adoptive parents, already had nine children, but went on to adopt five more. Since the apparition of Sister Annella, Norton has dedicated himself to making her story known and has been one of the key supporters of her cause for canonisation.

Norton’s story is just one of many miraculous occurrences related to the 20th-century nun. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) voted in favour of moving forward with her cause at its plenary assembly in November 2024.