Father: Gilbert James Givens b. circa June 1893, d. November 1964
Mother: Lavinia Nicholson b. circa 1900, d. circa 1924

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Sister Clementina Givens, 99
Oblate Sister of Providence remembered as 'God's gift' and 'a star'

When she left Miami for her motherhouse in 2016, Sister Clementina Givens promised this: "I've already told the mother general: I may be 94, but I don't intend to sit down, waiting for death."

And indeed, she didn't.

"She just did a lot of reading and praying and going to Mass," said Mary Sells, a parishioner at St. Patrick who struck up a friendship with Sister Clementina after a chance meeting at the church. Sells visited her whenever her job took her near the Oblate Sisters of Providence motherhouse in Baltimore.

Sister Clementina died there April 17, 2021, at the age of 99. Funeral services took place April 22. Parishioners at St. Patrick, where Sister Clementina served for more than 20 years, found out via an announcement on the parish website this weekend. They planned to celebrate a memorial Mass this Friday, April 30, at 11 a.m. at the Miami Beach church. The Mass will be livestreamed on the parish website.

Although Sister Clementina suffered from diabetes, her death was "not expected, very quick," Sells said.

A fellow Oblate put it more poetically at her funeral: "You slipped away so silently April 17. We did not expect to see you go so soon. No one got to say a proper farewell. But then, you were always so reserved."

Reserved, and equal parts tough and tender. "A strict teacher but filled with empathy, For both parents' and students' foibles, Having empathy for frail human nature," continued the tribute.

Sister Clementina was born Gladys Givens on Nov. 15, 1921. Her mother died when she was a toddler and she was raised by her Methodist uncle. But her father extracted from him a promise that she would be educated in the Catholic faith.

"An Oblate sister was her high school teacher, and they became good friends," Sells said.

Sister Clementina used to tell the story that, at her confirmation, that sister asked for prayers for a young woman "who has a vocation but doesn't know it yet." That young woman, of course, was Sister Clementina. She entered the Oblates — the first congregation founded for and by women of color — right after high school, Sept. 8, 1940.

At a celebration for her 75th anniversary as a religious, Father David Russell, a retired archdiocesan priest who helps at St. Patrick, noted that Sister Clementina's life had been full of challenges as a Black woman during a time of racial discrimination.

"There was a time when Sister Clementina had to ride in back of the bus," he said. "Through all that, Sister was rock solid. When I think of Sister I think of her smile. It comes from her soul where Jesus Christ dwells."

That's pretty much what Donna Moore, Sister Clementina's niece, told the Florida Catholic at that same celebration. "The Spirit of God is so strong in her; when you sit near her, you feel it. Sometimes it's dizzying. I've always loved to be around her. She's been a source of strength and prayer and patience."

The Oblates' tribute puts it this way: "Beware of sly smiles from quiet nuns, Who have Jesus as their main flame. They will have a Jesus-talk about you, Sometimes right there, in your face."

"She could look at somebody and just read them," Sells said. "She always knew what she needed to say, what the message from God was."

Sister Clementina served as a teacher and administrator in various venues — Chicago, Charleston, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. — before arriving at Holy Redeemer in Liberty City, where she served as teacher and principal from 1962 to 1973. She returned as administrator from 1981 to 1988. (The school closed in 1990 and now houses a Catholic Charities Head Start program.)

After her second term at Holy Redeemer, Sister Clementina took a one-year sabbatical at the Oblates' motherhouse in Baltimore; then she served from 1989 to 1996 as director of the Office of Black Catholic Ministry in Rockford, Illinois. She then went to St. Patrick as director of religious education, where she remained until 2016.

Few of her former students, whether in school or religious education, ever forgot her.

"You see this woman? She is God's gift," Miranda Albury of Miami told the congregation at Sister Clementina's farewell Mass. She then addressed her former teacher: "You loved every child. You touched every life. You gave us hugs and hope."

Albury added later in an interview: "What she gave us as African Americans was pride. With Sister Clementina, you got your education. She said it was our ticket to wherever we were going in life. There was no such thing as failing."

"What fond memories we have of her," said another former student, Katrenia Reeves-Jackman, director of the archdiocesan Office of Black Catholic Ministry. Speaking at Sister Clementina's 75th anniversary celebration, Reeves-Jackman said: "She taught us a lot about being Black and Catholic. We know that we matter. She told us we could be and do anything we wanted. She's a star."

In her honor, St. Patrick Parish started the Sister Clementina Givens Endowment Fund for disadvantaged students. It was launched in 2015 with $100,000 and a goal of $1 million.

At that 75th anniversary celebration, Sister Clementina marveled at her life: "I wanted a big family with a lot of children. And God gave me all these children."

Sells summed up the sorrow of those children when she said of Sister Clementina's passing: "She was 99. She was always ready. But I wasn't."

Published by The Archdiocese of Miami, Miami Shores, FL, on April 29, 2021

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Catholic nun celebrates 75 years of service to church, community

Congratulations to Sister Mary Clementina Givens, who earlier this month celebrated her diamond jubilee as a Catholic nun. That's 75 years of service to her Lord and fellow humans.

Sister Clementina is a member of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the country's first black order of nuns. Her celebration was spread over two weeks, in two states: Maryland, her home state; and Florida, where she has worked for many years. The first celebration was in August and 17 of her former students and parents from Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Liberty City traveled with her to Baltimore for the festivities.

A second celebration was Sept. 12 at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Miami Beach. "People are still telling me that they have never seen anything so beautiful," she said.

Recently, I spoke to Sister Clementina on the phone about her 75 years of Christian service. It was hard to believe I was speaking with a 93-year-old woman, who boasts of still being able to work full time at St. Patrick.

Born Gladys Givens in Baltimore, her mother died when she was 2. "I was raised by a Catholic uncle and a Methodist aunt. In those days, when there was a Catholic and non-Catholic marriage, the couple had to promise that any children in the union would be raised Catholic. I was sent to Catholic school and when I was 10, I became Catholic," she said.

Sister Clementina said that as a young girl, she dreamed of getting married and having a large family. "But that was my idea, not God's," she said with a chuckle.

Although she attended high school at Douglass High, a non-Catholic school in Baltimore, she remembers going back to her old Catholic school after classes to help out one of her favorite teachers. "One day she said to me, 'Gladys, God is calling a young girl but she doesn't know it. Will you pray for her?' I didn't know at the time I was praying for myself."

She graduated high school in June. "On Sept. 8, I walked into the convent and never wanted to leave," Sister Clementina said.

As a nun, she became Sister Mary Clementina Givens. And although she didn't know it yet, her trials were just about to start.

"At the time I became a nun, the Oblate Sisters of Providence was one of only two orders that would accept a black girl. The other community was in New Orleans."

She recalls that back then, even in the Catholic Church there was much racism. "We used to have to sit in the rear of the church and were the last ones to be served Holy Communion. And once when we attended a service in southern Maryland, we later learned that they had dogs ready to attack us if we tried to integrate the service.

"Another time, when I was teaching at St. Augustus School in Washington during the 1950s, our school was being closed, so we were going to a white school about two blocks away to practice for the children's first communion. While the children were in line to go into the church, the white children threw garbage on them from an upstairs window. I simply told them, 'Come on children, we will still be the first black communion class.'"

Through it all, Sister Clementina said, "I always believed that this is where I should be and I just stuck it out. That's all."

In the 75 years she has been a nun, Sister Clementina has taught at schools in several states. She started her teaching career at Holy Redeemer Catholic School in Liberty City, and went on to served at schools in Washington (at three different schools); in Chicago; and in Rockford, where she opened the first Office of Black Catholic Ministry. "I stayed there three years before going back to Holy Redeemer," she said.

Dr. Lynn Rhodes Tatum, who in 1974, graduated head of her eighth grade class under Sister Clementina said, "She was very kind and loving but she was a no-nonsense teacher. She was very disciplined and wanted to make sure we learned; she was very strict. She used to tell us that she wasn't there to be our friend. When she walked int the room you just knew that you had to get in line. She was committed to our learning; she made us stay focused. I used to think she was so hard on us, but now I can really appreciate her."

Tatum went on to graduate at the top of her class at Notre Dame Academy, Hampton Institute (now University) and later from Meharry Medical College. She now works as a dentist in Beaufort, South Carolina.

Sister Clementina said she is happy and thankful that she lived to see her Diamond Jubilee as a nun — and that at age 93 she is still working full time.

"I still have children [former students] who come to see me. And of course, they are all retired. My children come from all over and they are still so precious to me."

Sister Clementina said she intends to retire at the end of this school year and return to Baltimore.

"But I won't be sitting down waiting for death," she said. "Death will have to catch up with me. I will be teaching one-on-one classes of children who need assistance in reading and/or math."

Published in The Miami Herald on September 22, 2015