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SISTERS OF THE PRESENTATION
St. Bernard's Elementary School's roots originally come from Ireland. The Sisters of the Presentation founded St. Bernard's Elementary School in 1886. Nano Nagle founded the Sisters of the Presentation.
In 1718 Nano, whose birth name was Honora, was born to an Irish family of privilege during the penal era at Bally-griffen County Cork. Ireland was all too familiarly torn apart by war between religions. (Penal law prohibited Catholics from: teaching, marrying a Protestant, keeping arms unless of certain wealth, having a steeple or bell hang from their church, having a public funeral, sitting in Parliament, holding office, being a banker. Soldiers who refused to attend Protestant services while in command were held in shackles for 12 hours at a time.) Nano was a high spirited young lady who found it hard to enjoy the life of privilege while so many were poor and homeless and lacking the basic necessities of life.
She yearned to teach but was prohibited by penal law to do so. It was the custom of the time for Catholics to teach their children and their neighbors' children secretly in "hedge schools." Literally, these schools were held behind hedges while a sentry child kept watch and warned if soldiers approached.
In her desire to assist the poor, she joined a convent in Catholic France, where she was sworn to silence and prayer. After a time, she felt inadequate even in her religious capacity. She felt a need to be more physically involved with the problems of the poor in Ireland.
By 1754 she had returned to County Cork and lived with her brother and his wife. She began her own secret school where she spoke freely about Jesus Christ. This defied the law and the wishes of her brother. Ten years later she operated seven schools, somehow able to get around the laws and continue to teach secretly.
So many Irish were forced to emigrate that Nano taught those children to be catechists and teach the Word in their new land. Nano taught school by day and secretly walked the shadows of Cork by night, with only the light of a lantern to light her way she brought comfort and medicine to the sick.
By necessity in later years Nano needed to beg to support her schools. She became affectionately known as "God's Beggar." Instead of being disheartened, she felt empowered by the generosity of others.
Nano felt deeply that she needed to be "among the poor" and not be cloistered. So Nano approached the Bishop and proposed her idea of starting a new order. Because the work of Nano and her fellow workers was so highly regarded the Bishop did not want Nano to leave Ireland, so he accepted her Society on Christmas Eve 1775. Nano Nagle had founded the Society for Charitable Instruction, known later as the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
On the 24th of June, 1777, Nano and three companions pronounced their vows to God of poverty, chastity, and obedience until death. Soon after, some Sisters were beginning to wear a distinctive habit. The Presentation Sisters decided not to do this, knowing that they could pass easier among the people and minister to their needs if they went unnoticed.
Constantly praying for more candidates, Nano opened a home for aged women in 1783 while continuing her schools and ministry to the poor. She died at the age of 66 on April 26, 1784. Some say she was prematurely old because of her years of hard physical work and the demanding schedule she kept.
Nano Nagle never saw the shores of America but had always dreamed that someday her Society would flourish and her Sisters would be plenty. On September 8, 1999, the Sisters of the Presentation celebrated the 125th Anniversary of their arrival on the East coast of the United States. On Christmas Eve of 2001 the order itself celebrated its 226th year of existence.
Today there are Presentation Sisters all over the world serving the people of God in various ministries. Now New Windsor, NY, is the Mother House for 152 sisters in the northeastern part of the U.S., including the Sisters at St. Bernard's Elementary School.
Find out more about the Sisters of the Presentation at their web site.