Beginnings The Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary were founded in Ireland in 1775 by Nano Nagle. She felt she was called by God to bring the light of faith to the poor children of Cork. The Penal Laws of the time forbade any form of Catholic instruction in Ireland but Nano Nagle was willing to risk imprisonment and disgrace for the sake of the Gospel. Visiting the sick and homebound by night along Cork’s cobbled streets, she became known as the “Lady with the Lantern”. In time she gathered other women to form a new society of women religious dedicated to the service of the poor. Nano Nagle’s small band of women, originally named the Society of Charitable Instruction of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, later became known as the Sisters of the Presentation of theBlessed Virgin Mary. Motto The motto inscribed on the Nagle family’s coat of arms is Non Vox Sed Votum, Not Words But Deeds. It sums up more than two hundred years of active service, the legacy of Presentation Sisters throughout the world. Wherever our Sisters went, they opened schools, hospitals, orphanages, and places of refuge for the poor and powerless. Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and Newburgh, New York In September, 1874, twelve brave Presentation Sisters from Ireland, led by Mother Joseph Hickey, responded to an invitation to teach the children of poor Irish immigrants at Saint Michael’s parish in New York City. Michael’s soon opened an orphanage on Staten Island, also staffed by Presentation Sisters. In 1884, this became the home of the newly etablished Sisters of the Presentation of Staten Island. In 1886, Mother Magdalen Keating set out from Staten Island with a small group of Sisters to begin a new foundation in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. The Sisters eventually opened schools and other ministries in other areas of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. In 1921, Presentation Sisters from St. Michael’s purchased property near the city of Newburgh, New York. Later this site, Mount Saint Joseph, became the motherhouse of the Sisters of the Presentation of Newburgh. In July, 1997, after six years of study and preparation, the Fitchburg and Newburgh Presentation congregations became one. Today the Sisters of the Presentation of New Windsor, New York, celebrate thirteen years of shared history. We look ahead to a future full of hope.
