Anna Cordelia Zervas was born in Moorhead, Minnesota, on April 7, 1900.
She entered Saint Benedict’s Monastery in Saint Joseph, Minnesota, at the age of 15.
On June 17, 1918, she took the religious name Mary Annella and was assigned to be the organist and music teacher
at the Pro-Cathedral of Saint Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota: positions she held through the summer of 1923.

Sister Annella later professed triennial vows on July 11, 1919, and her final vows on July 11, 1922.
About a year later she developed a strange skin disease that would eventually be diagnosed as pityriasis rubra pilaris, or P.R.P.
While she had good days and bad days, there was (and remains) no cure for P.RP. and at the time treatments were limited and temporary.
Despite her best efforts, Sister Annella lacked the strength to continue teaching and even taking care of herself.
She died in her childhood home in Moorhead, in the presence of most of her family, on August 14, 1926.