Mary Totah


Mary David Totah OSB, known as Sister Mary David, born Michelle Frieda Totah, was an American nun who became prioress of St Cecilia's Abbey on the Isle of Wight, England.

Early life

Totah was born in Philadelphia to Catholic Arab parents from Ramallah, Palestine. She grew up in Louisiana and attended Holy Savior Menard Central High School. where she was the first female student president. She studied English literature at Loyola University New Orleans and obtained an M.A. at the University of Virginia, and in 1980 she became one of the first women to study at Christ Church, Oxford, where she obtained a D.Phil. from University of Oxford, her thesis title being Consciousness versus authority : a study of the critical debate between the Bloomsbury Group and the Men of 1914, 1910-1930.
She began an academic career with a tenure-track appointment in the English Department at the College of William & Mary, Virginia, United States.

Religious calling

After having spent some time in retreat at the Benedictine St Cecilia's Abbey at Ryde on the Isle of Wight when she had completed her doctoral research, she decided to leave William and Mary and join the enclosed community there. She was its novice mistress for 22 years and the prioress for eight years.
In 1996 she published an edition of the writings of Prosper Guéranger, Cécile Bruyère and, from St. Cecilia's Abbey, Solesmes, entitled The Spirit of Solesmes. She also published works on prayer, fasting, the consecrated life, and confirmation, and a collection of her writing was published posthumously in 2020 under the title The Joy of God.

Death and legacy

Sister Mary David died on 28 August 2017 after suffering from bowel cancer for five years.
In 2020, Bloomsbury published her collected writings as The Joy of God.

Selected publications