Mount Erin Heritage

Glimpses of Mount Erin's Rich Heritage

 

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 Venerable Nano Nagle in 1775. The Sisters of the congregation use the post-nominal initials P.B.V.M (Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary)

 

The history of the Presentation Sisters in Australia reveals the merging of two spiritual and social paths. One is the emergence and growth of the Spirit-inspired life and work of Nano Nagle among a people deprived of culture, religion, education and livelihood because of harsh penal laws in 18th century Ireland. The other is the action of the Spirit in developing the Catholic Church of Australia which struggled to provide its people with an education while at the same time nurturing their faith in a secular society. To follow these paths, we need to review the Irish foundations of the Presentation Sisters, the establishment and growth of the Presentation foundations in Australia and the contemporary expressions of Nano Nagle’s mission and ministry.

 

The story, like all spiritual quests, springs from a response to the Spirit, a transformation, a dream for justice, a perception of how this could be achieved and a life of prayer and action to make the dream a reality. The story begins with Nano Nagle (1718-1784), born in Ballygriffin, Ireland, during the persecution of Irish Catholics under the English penal laws. Having received her education on the Continent, and lived for a number of years in Paris, she returned to Cork, Ireland, only to be confronted by the squalor, ignorance and accompanying social ills which surrounded her.

 

Nano Nagle’s life of prayer, her concern for her people, her courage and perseverance inspired and enabled her to establish schools and support other works of charity for those who were poor and oppressed by unjust social structures. To give stability to her works, she sought the services of a religious community and arranged for the Ursuline Sisters to come to Ireland. When Nano realised that the Ursuline rule did not allow the sisters to leave the cloister and thus to seek out and serve those who were poor in their own environment, she established, in 1775 at the age of 57, a religious community, the Sisters of Charitable Instruction of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This community was ultimately to become the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Next - the link to Mount Erin and the significance for posterity.