Phyllis “Philip Marie” D'Anna

Sister Phyllis D’Anna, SNDdeN returned home to her good God on Sept. 22, 2026.

The eldest of five, she enjoyed a lively home life with “a sweet, kind mother and a musical dad who loved gathering people together.” She grew up in San Jose, California, her dad’s hometown and was taught by the Sisters of Notre Dame at St. Claire’s in Santa Clara until the 4^th grade. Then the family moved to Huntsville, Alabama, her mom’s hometown. At the end of ninth grade, the family moved back to San Josè, where she spent three years at Notre Dame San Jose High School.

She said that when she was very young, she had felt a strong call to serve God. She recalled being very taken by the Sisters of Notre Dame’s sincerity and their joy and love of Life, and felt  called to serve with them. She entered the SNDdeN novitiate in Saratoga in 1963 and became known as Sister Philip Marie.

She liked to be called Sister Phil, since it is a Greek word for love. The word “love” reminded her of who she intrinsically is and how she wanted to live in the world. She said that the ministry that she brings to everything is the practice of living in loving kindness with unconditional love, seeing all of creation as God’s gift of Love. She responds to these gifts with joy, treating everything with respect while living in a spirit of unending gratitude.

Sister Phil enjoyed teaching small children. In 1966, her first assignment brought her to Sacred Heart School in Salinas, Calif., where she taught second grade, then “graduated” to teaching first graders for the next two years. She continued with first grade at Mother of Sorrows School in Los Angeles, St. Francis of Assisi School in Seahurst, Washington and then Notre Dame School in San Francisco. Later, Sister Phil became certified in Montessori and taught at both the Early Learning Center in Belmont, Calif., and at Creative Montessori in East Palo Alto, Calif.

In the late 1980s, as part of her spiritual quest, Sister Phil helped build and staff a Zen Monastery Interfaith Peace Center in Murphys, California. There, she lived in the woods, practiced awareness and meditation and organized and directed retreats.

She became adept at cooking, carpentry and plumbing as she supervised, managed and worked with retreatants to construct a rammed earth building, complete with a meditation hall, kitchen, bathrooms and dormitory.

Sister Phil maintained a wonderful connection with the elderly and worked with infirm Sisters at both the Notre Dame Villa and the Mercy Retirement Center in Oakland.

Being a “Jill” of all trades, Sister Phil also served as the administrative assistant for the California Provincial Leadership Team, where she would zoom up to work on her carbon-free electric scooter (caring for the Earth was of key importance to her).

For one month in 2012 and again in 2013, Sister Phil volunteered at the Zen Center’s Living Compassion Compound in Kantolomba, one of the largest slums in Zambia. There she taught willing local women in the compound who spoke English how to teach it to their young children. The program worked, and many of those children have graduated from college and now have good jobs.

She also provided spiritual direction and taught meditation and awareness practices, including to groups of women at a local women’s jail.

Sster Phil also served as one of two support coordinators for the Sisters in the West regions of the U.S. East-West Province.

As Sister Phil looked back on 60 years as a Sister of Notre Dame, she said, “My whole life has been an energizing and renewing experience. I try to live each moment in the present and each day to the fullest. I am grateful for every part of my life…for all the children I have taught, for my SND Sisters, Zen Sangha, family, co-workers, and friends and all who have blessed my life in countless ways.”

Watch this video reflection taken during Sister Phil’s 60th Jubilee year:

Updated in 2026.