Brief History

Nano Nagle wanted to help the poor she saw around her in Cork. Determined to help to educate them, both to improve their lives and to deepen their faith, in spite of the dangers she faced because of the Penal Laws, she opened her first school in 1754 with an enrolment of thirty-five girls in a two-room cabin.

Nano taught the children during the day and visited the sick by night. As a result, she became known in Cork as the “Lady with the Lantern”.

Believing that this work must be continued after her death, Nano founded the congregation now known as the Presentation Sisters in 1775.

Since then the Presentation Sisters have educated young people and cared for the sick and the poor all over the world.