Sister M. Bernadette Giba

May 5, 1937 - January 15, 2010

Sister Bernadette (Rosita) Giba died on January 15, 2010, in Pittsburgh, Pa. She was 72 and in her 55th year of religious life.

Better known as Bernie, Sister was born on May 5, 1937 to John and Julia (Poruba) Giba in Pittsburgh, Pa. As a child, she attended St. Gabriel School and was taught by our sisters. She and her twin, Rosalia, attended high school at Mount Assisi Academy in Bellevue. The twins felt called to enter the convent together and, in 1954, entered the novitiate of the School Sisters of St. Francis. Bernadette received the name of Sister Rosita. 

In 1955, Sister professed her first vows and was sent to Clymer, Pa., to teach the primary grades. She later taught at St. Ann School in Emmaus, Pa., and St. Theresa School in Hellertown, Pa., until making final vows in 1960. From 1960 to 1979, Sister Bernadette taught the primary grades, CCD classes and instructed the altar boys at St. Theresa in Hellertown, Pa.,; St. Ann in Emmaus, Pa.; SS. Cyril & Methodius in Clifton, N.J.; SS. Peter & Paul in Phillipsburg, N.J.; SS. Cyril & Methodius in Boonton, N.J.; St. John Nepomucene in Guttenberg, N.J.; St. Joseph in Oradell, N.J.; St. Patrick in Canonsburg, Pa.; and Holy Family in Erie, Pa. 

Sister Bernadette held at master’s degree in education from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pa.  She was principal at Transfiguration in Russellton, Pa., for six years; at Ave Maria in Ellsworth, Pa., for six years; and at St. Patrick in Canonsburg, Pa., for one year.

From 1992 to 2002, served at the congregation’s mission in South Africa. For the first five years she took care of 60 boys at Our Lady of Angels Hostel in Barberton and was the director for four of those years. After apartheid, the mission became a care center for AIDS patients, many of whom were babies and small children. Sister Bernie was then asked to help prepare children from the area by beginning a preschool. Her answer was, “I’ll take care of that. That I can do!”  She ordered the necessary furniture and equipment and began training teacher assistants.

Sister Bernadette was loved not only by all of her preschool students, but also by the students she taught in her CCD classes. With the help of her teacher assistants, she was able to communicate with the students in their native Zulu language. When she left the mission in 2002 there were 37 children enrolled in the preschool. 

Ministering at St. John Mission came with some dangers.  In 1995, Sister Bernadette was slightly wounded when four men, two armed with AD-47 rifles, forced their way into the mission’s school while the sisters were preparing for the first day of the new school year. During the encounter, Sister Bernie was struck in the neck with a knife.  This was but one danger she endured. 

In 2002, Sister Bernadette returned to the United States for her vacation. Unfortunately, a fall soon after resulted in multiple injuries and other health problems that prevented her from returning to South Africa. 

In 2005, Sister Bernie became registrar at SS. Peter & Paul School in Tucson, Ariz.  Her sister, Sister Rosalia, was also working at a parish nearby, and the twins formed a local fraternity. Two years later, Sister Bernadette’s health began to fail, and she returned to Pittsburgh.

Many sisters remember Sister Bernadette as a person of remarkable zeal and enthusiasm in everything she did and showing great joy when speaking about her ministries. In turn, she was loved by her students, the parents and her co-workers.

Her twin sister, Sister Rosalia, wrote, “In pain she taught me how to suffer.  She never complained that God had visited her body in this manner. Because of her great resignation to God’s will, God allowed her to have a glimpse of heaven and eternity. I was privileged to be her twin sister.”

Sister Bernadette is buried in St. Francis Cemetery at Mt. Assisi Place in Pittsburgh, Pa.