The Presentation Sisters

Written By Teresa Rayner

Imagine a world where religious expression was not just discouraged, but penalised, with those caught practicing their faith fined, jailed or killed.

This was the environment that Nano Nagle, foundress of the Presentation Sisters, grew up in, under the Penal Laws of early 18th century Ireland. Her family was constantly in danger of persecution for practicing their Catholic faith, and she was prohibited from receiving a Catholic education. Nano had two brothers, who by law were able to instantly inherit their fathers property if they became Protestant. Any priest in the country who did not register and stick to a set of restrictions was in danger of being hung. Whole families were placed in prison because their parents were unable to find work and fell into debt. Starving, uneducated, hopeless children were left roaming the streets, turning to lives of crime in order to survive.

And yet in this crushing environment, Nano Nagle managed to found seven Catholic schools for poor children, establish two Religious Orders, and change thousands of lives. Her first school was so successful she was educating 400 young girls within only 18 months of its opening. She would teach older girls lacemaking, and the boys sailmaking so not only would they leave school educated, but equipped to go into sustainable lines of work. Many of her boys became apprentices helping to build her future schools and convent facilities. On top of all this she risked her life walking the dangerous streets at night, tending to the sick and starving, becoming well known as the ‘Lady of the Lantern.’

In A Dream Unfolds, Noela Fox writes;

“Nothing prevented her from dreaming of more solutions to the problems she saw resulting from the injustices existing in the world.”

You can hear more about this remarkable woman in my interview with Sister Noreen McGrath

Sisters Regina and Frances in Taita, Lower Hutt

Nano Nagle was such a visionary woman who desired to bring good news to the poor just as Jesus did (Luke 4:18) by responding to the needs of her time. And this work lives on to this day through the order she founded almost 250 years ago - the Presentation Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Sr Noreen based in Mosgiel, Dunedin is an advocate for the anti-trafficking movement, opposing all forms of modern day slavery. Sr Francine Nicolle in Taita, Lower Hutt taught English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) at my college, particularly supporting refugee families. The Sisters are involved in prison ministry, hospital chaplaincy, counselling and spiritual direction - they even pay particular attention to caring for our environment, something that is also crying out for help.

It is as their foundress said;

“If I could do any service in any part of the world, I would willingly do it.””
— Venerable Nano Nagle


Further Resources:

Teresa Rayner
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