I’ll never forget Sister Mary Claudia. She was my first grade teacher at St. Mary’s. She was a Sister of Charity from Cincinnati. Sister Mary Claudia and her fellow sisters wore the full habit. The sides of her face were encased in her wimple and veil. How she could see us, I’ll never know, but she knew what we were going to do before we did it! I remember that she was about 10 feet tall and did not put up with nonsense, at. all. Once, she made me stay in from play during the lunch break for talking when we were supposed to be doing our arithmetic. I didn’t dare tell my mother because I knew the kind of trouble I’d be in for disobeying Sister Mary Claudia! She was amazing! We all knew better than to disobey Sister Mary Claudia!
I do have many fond memories of Sister. Because of her, when I meet a nun or a priest, I cannot call them by a first name, but I must address them as: Sister or Father. This was the respect for the priests and nuns that we learned from her. Because of Sister Mary Claudia, my printing is still neat and legible, even though my cursive is very poor! Because of Sister Mary Claudia, my head bows automatically at the name of Jesus. She ingrained in us that His is a Sacred name and that with each Hail Mary, and anytime the name of Jesus was spoken at Mass or in prayer, we were to bow our heads. She said that we were to set the example of those around us and bow our heads for all to see. Sixty years after first grade ended, I am still being influenced by this Sister of Charity.
Sister Mary Claudia, thank you!
"Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Philippians 2: 10-12
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