Nano Nagle

Honora “Nano” Nagle was born in Ballygriffin, County Cork, Ireland in 1718. This was the period of Irish history when the English had imposed the oppressive Penal Laws, which severely limited the Irish people. The Irish were denied access economically, politically, socially, and educationally to the rights and means that would have raised them from the imposed poverty and oppression.

It was a crime of treason (punishable by death) to educate the Irish and it was forbidden to practice the Roman Catholic faith.

Due to her family’s position and wealth, Nano was sent to be educated in the Irish community then living in Paris.

According to Sister Rose Forest, PBVM, one biographer of Nano, her “stay in the midst of Irish Parisian Society was brief, but during this time an incident took place which has become a classic episode in the Presentation story. One morning the charming, wealthy, and beautiful Miss Nagle...was returning from an all-night ball. As her carriage rattled over the cobblestones of a silent street, she saw a small group of poor working people waiting in front of a church...for the door to open for early Mass. The contrast between their useful lives and her own empty one devoted to pleasure made a lasting impression on the girl of twenty-two.”

Returning to Ireland, other events led Nano to consider a way that she could help the poor she saw everyday in Cork. Distressed by the ignorance of the Irish in both faith and academics, she opened her first school in 1754 with an enrollment of thirty-five girls in a two-room cabin. This began her great work of education and a some historians have noted, her important work in saving the Irish culture.

Without regard for her own safety, she selflessly educated the children during the day and visited and nursed the sick by night. As a result, she became known in Cork as the Lady with the Lantern, the symbol of the Sisters of the Presentation worldwide.

Today the people of Ireland, especially in Cork, who attribute their freedom to her, revere her.

Eventually, realizing the need for a group to continue her work after her death, Nano founded the Sisters of the Presentation on December 24, 1775.

Nano died from tuberculosis, Monday, April 26, 1784. According to Sister Rose’s account, “On her deathbed Mother Nagle gave to her daughters the following injunction: ‘Love one another as you have hitherto done.’ As her legacy she bequeathed to them the treasure which she prized above all the wealth of the earth – the love of the poor of Jesus Christ. She bade her Sisters ‘Spend yourself for the poor.'”

In the years since Nano’s death, the Sisters of the Presentation have carried her spirit around the world in a variety of ministries.

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Handwritten letter dated December 17, 1770 from Nano Nagle, in Cork, to Miss Eleanor Fitzsimons, in Paris. Letter is located in the Archives of the Sisters of the Presentation, San Francisco. A full transcript may be found on the website of the Library of University College, Dublin