The Presentation Sisters, officially the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, are a religious institute of Roman Catholic women founded in Cork, Ireland, by Honora "Nano" Nagle in 1775. The sisters of the congregation use the postnominal initials PBVM.
The Presentation Sisters' mission is to help the poor and needy around the world. Historically, the Sisters focused their energies on creating and staffing schools that would educate young people, especially young women. Most of these schools are still in operation and can be found across the globe.
As of 2024, the Presentation Sisters are active in 19 countries: Australia, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Dominica, Ecuador, India, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
History
Beginnings
Honora (Nano) Nagle (1718–1784) was born in Ballygriffin, Cork, Ireland. Her wealthy Catholic family provided her the advantage of an education in France, at a time when Ireland's Education Act 1695 precluded the less advantaged from education. She quietly began teaching Irish children in the trading port of Cork City, and her reputation spread widely. In a 1769 letter, she wrote: "I often think my schools will never bring me to heaven, as I only take delight and pleasure in them... I can assure you my schools are beginning to be of service to a great many parts of the world."
In 1775, Nagle entered with some companions on a novitiate for the religious life. With them, she received the habit on 29 June 1776, taking the name of "Mother Mary of St John of God". They made their first annual vows 24 June 1777. The foundress had begun the construction of a convent close to that which she had built for the Ursulines, and it was opened on Christmas Day, 1775. They adopted as their title the Society of Charitable Instruction of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was changed in 1791 to that of "Presentation Order" (Ord na Toirbhirte). Their habit was similar to that of the Ursulines. Ireland honored the Presentation Order with a pair of postage stamps for the 1975 bicentennial. The Roman Catholic Church declared Nagle a Servant of God in 1994, and Venerable in 2013, on the path toward possible canonization as a Saint.
Institutional development The second superior was Mary Angela Collins. Soon after her succession, a set of rules, adapted from that of Augustine of Hippo, was drawn up by Bishop Francis Moylan, and approved by Pope Pius VI in September 1791. This congregation of teaching Sisters itself was given formal approval by Pope Pius VII in 1805.
Communities branching from Cork were founded at Killarney in 1793, Dublin in 1794, and Waterford in 1798. A second convent at Cork was established in 1799, by Mary Patrick Fitzgerald; and a convent at Kilkenny in 1800, by Mary Joseph McLoughlan. The schools, regulated at the time by a United Kingdom Government board, had for their first object the Catholic and moral training of the young, which was not interfered with by the government. The secular system followed was the "National", superseded, in many cases, by the "Intermediate", both of which ensured a sound education in English; to these were added domestic economy, Latin, Irish, French, and German. The average attendance of children in each of the city convents of Dublin, Cork, and Limerick was over 1,200, and that in the country convents between 300 and 400, a total enrollment of 22,200 receiving an excellent education without charge. For girls who needed to support themselves by earning a living, workrooms were established at Cork, Youghal, and other places, where Limerick lace, Irish points and crochet were taught. In 1802, the Sisters' example inspired the formation of the Presentation Brothers.
In 1829 the Presentation Sisters established their first foreign convent, when Josephine French and M. de Sales Lovelock went from Galway to Newfoundland. In 1833 a house was founded by Josephine Sargeant from Clonmel at Manchester, England, from which sprang two more, one at Buxton St Anne's and one at Matlock St Joseph's. The schools were well attended; the number of children, including those of an orphanage, being about 1,400.
India received its first foundation in 1841, when Xavier Kearney and some Sisters from Rahan and Mullingar established themselves at Madras. Soon four more convents in the Madras presidency were founded from this, and in 1891 one at Rawalpindi. These schools comprised orphanages, and day and boarding schools, for both Europeans and local children. The Presentation Sisters entered the Southern Hemisphere in 1866 with a convent and school in Tasmania, Australia.
In the 20th century, foundations were established in Africa (Zimbabwe, 1949; Zambia, 1970) and New Zealand (1951). The first of a new wave of foundations from Ireland in the USA began in Texas (San Antonio, 1952), followed by foundations in the Philippines (1960), South America (Chile, 1982; Ecuador, 1983; Peru, 1993); Slovakia (1992); and Thailand (1999).
Organization Communities of Presentation Sisters exist throughout the world. However, historical and legal factors caused these communities to develop and operate as autonomous groups. Each community is independent of the motherhouse, and subject only to its own superioress and the bishop of its respective diocese. A large proportion of these communities are today more closely united within the Union of Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, created by papal decree on 19 July 1976. Today, more than 1,600 Sisters pursue work in education and relief of the poor on every continent.
International Presentation Association (IPA) The International Presentation Association was established in 1988 as a network of the various congregations of PBVM women, including the Union of Presentation Sisters, the Conference of Presentation Sisters of North America, and the Australian Society. The goal of the IPA is to foster unity and to enable collaboration for the sake of mission. The IPA has NGO consultant status with the UN Economic and Social Council.
Union of Presentation Sisters The Union of Presentation Sisters is a congregation of 1,300 women working internationally in thirteen Provinces or Units. Each Unit takes responsibility for its own life and mission in response to the direction of the congregation. (The United States Province is also a member of the Conference of Presentation Sisters of North America.)
Presentation Sisters in the Pakistan Province founded several notable schools, including Presentation Convent School, Jhelum; Presentation Convent High School, Murree; Presentation Convent School, Peshawar; Presentation Convent Girls High School, Rawalpindi; and Presentation Convent High School, Sargodha. The Indian Province includes Presentation Convent Higher Secondary School, Srinagar, and Presentation Convent Senior Secondary School, Delhi.
Presentation schools in Ireland include High Cross College (formerly Presentation College, Currylea); Cashel Community School (formerly Presentation Convent, Cashel); Our Lady's College, Greenhills; Presentation College, Athenry; Presentation College Headford; Presentation Secondary School, Clonmel; and Killina Presentation Secondary School, Rahan. In Ireland, the Presentation Sisters also founded Clann Credo, a social investment fund.
Conference of Presentation Sisters of North America (CPS) The Conference of Presentation Sisters of North America began in August 1953 under the title of the "North American Conference", when several Presentation communities in North America began to collaborate and communicate on issues of ministry, spirituality and social justice. All of these communities claim their origins from Nano Nagle. In 2002, the North American Conference included eight communities, and changed its name to CPS. Together the eight communities established a collaborative ministry project in New Orleans called "Lantern Light".
St. John's, Newfoundland The first Presentation Convent in the Americas was founded in Newfoundland in 1833 at the request of Bishop Michael Anthony Fleming, Vicar Apostolic of the island. The convent and a neighboring school were established in St. John's, Newfoundland, by Mary Bernard Kirwan, accompanied by Mary Xavier Molony, Mary Magdalen O'Shaughnessy, and Mary Xaverius Lynch. The motherhouse was established adjacent to the Basilica of St. John the Baptist. As of 2019, the congregation was serving twelve ministry locations in Newfoundland.
San Francisco, California In November 1854, five Presentation Sisters arrived in San Francisco from Ireland at the invitation of Archbishop Joseph Sadoc Alemany. Mary Joseph Cronin was appointed as the community's first superior; but due to unforeseen circumstances, she returned to Ireland in 1855 with two other members of the small community, Clare Duggan and Augustine Keane. The remaining Sisters were Mary Teresa Comerford, who assumed the role as new superior, Xavier Daly, and their first postulant, Mary Cassian. The Sisters had great difficulties in their early founding years, but succeeded in interesting prominent Catholics of the city in their work. By 1900, the San Francisco Presentation foundation established two convents and schools within the city limits named Presentation High School, San Francisco, and one in Berkeley, California named Presentation High School, Berkeley. They also staffed schools in Gilroy and Sonoma, California. The Presentation Sisters opened San Francisco's School of the Epiphany in 1938, and Menlo Park's Nativity Catholic School in 1956.
Presentation High School San Francisco was an all-girls school. The most-recent main building was constructed in 1930 at 2340 Turk Street. In 1991 the building became University of San Francisco's Education Building.
In nearby San Jose, California, the Presentation Sisters opened Presentation High School in 1962. The school still operates as an all-girls Catholic high school.
In Sacramento, California, the Sisters staffed a pair of K–8 schools for 30 years each: Presentation School during 1961–1991, and Saint Mary School during 1969–1999.
Dubuque, Iowa The congregation was introduced into the Diocese of Dubuque by Mother Mary Vincent Hennessey in 1874. By 1913, the congregation had established ten branch-houses in neighboring Nebraska.
Staten Island, New York
The Presentation Convent of St. Michael's Church (New York City) was founded on 8 September 1874, by Mother Mary Joseph Hickey of the Presentation Convent, Terenure, County Dublin, with two Sisters from that convent, two from Clondalkin, one from Tuam, and five postulants. Father Arthur J. Donnelly, the founding pastor of St. Michael's Church as its school building neared completion, went to Ireland in February 1874 to invite the Presentation Sisters to take charge of the girls' department. Upon the Sisters' agreeing, Paul Cardinal Cullen, Archbishop of Dublin, applied to the Holy See for the necessary authorization for the Sisters to leave Ireland and proceed to New York, which was accorded by Pope Pius IX. In 1884, Mary Joseph Magdalen, Mary Teresa Reynolds, and four other Sisters from the New York group took charge of St. Michael's Home, Greenridge, Staten Island, where soon hundreds of destitute children were cared for. This became the home of the newly established Sisters of the Presentation of Staten Island, which became its own congregation on 1 May 1890. (Others from the early New York community developed into today's Presentation Sisters of New Windsor.)