Mount St Anne's
Retreat & Conference Centre

The Story Of Nano Nagle

Born in 1718, voted "WOMAN OF THE YEAR 2000" and "GREATEST IRISH WOMAN EVER" IN 2005, a woman of fidelity, determination, courage; ready to teach out, ready to risk, a big-hearted woman, who showed her love of life, of learning, and of the beautiful!  Nano Nagle was born in Ballygriffin near Mallow, Co. Cork, Ireland.  Being the eldest of seven children, she learned from an early age, how to care for and love others.

That Nano was a spirited little girl, we know from her father's words in her defence.  When her mother complained about her high spirits, his responce was; "Our Nano will be a saint yet."  Living in Penal Ireland meant that she attended the forbidden local hedge school.  It was here and in the Nagle home that Nano received her primary education.  Later she and her sister Ann went to Paris to complete their education.

A VERY SOPHISTICATED YOUNG LADY she certainly was when she finished school.  She was talented, well educated, wealthy and beautiful, with a charming personality.

EXTREMELY MODERN and in her own words "a lover of dress and vanity," she delighted in the social life of Paris.

But then

AFTER THE DANCE one early morning as she returned home, she saw from her carriage window, a group of people standing outside a Church door waiting for early Mass.  She thought: "Their lives are useful and unselfish, mine selfish and useless, I must change."  And she did.
Nano returned to Ireland, but because of the Penal Laws she felt powerless, and went back to France to become a nun and pray for Ireland.  She found no peace in France.  Like St. Patrick, God was calling her back.  She returned and became THE HELPER OF THE HELPLESS.

She began with the children and although it meant having a price on her head (as Catholic schools were forbidden by law) she founded seven schools in Cork.

She also was A CHEERFUL GIVER.  Every evening after school she visited the poor, the sick and the lonely, and spent herself and her money to help them.  When she was short of money she became A LOWLY BEGGAR in the shops and on the streets to provide money to continue her work.  She was truly A LAY APOSTLE, doing unaided what many groups of people do today.

While Nano's immediate mission was confined to her native city, her understanding of mission was universal.  "If I could be of any service in saving souls in any part of the globe, I would willingly do all in my power".  She recognised the potential of the poor and of youth to minister to one another.  "All my children are brought up to be fond of instructing".

Urged on by her faith in her own mission and by her desire to give stability to her works, Nano founded her own Congregation of Presentation Sisters on Christmas Eve 1775.

Nine years later, on April 26th, 1784, at the age of sixty six, Nano Nagle died in Cork.  Her grave can be visited at South Presentation Convent, Douglas Street, Cork.

A WOMAN IN LOVE.  Love was her driving force - love for God and her neighbour, proved by prayer and sacrifice.  Her life was a continuous prayer because her union with her GREAT LOVER was unbroken.  Rising as early as 4:00a.m. she spent several hours in prayer before making her rounds to her seven schools in the city, where she taught the children she loved - and this she did in all kinds of weather, even when she was worn out and in bad health.

Again, on her return home, often late at night, after visiting the poor and the sick in their miserable hovels, she spent hours in prayer.  Her self-sacrifice, endurance and total dedication were EXTRAORDINARY.  She gave up everything for God - wealth, pleasure, family joys, free time.  For His sake she risked arrest and imprisonment, and even death, as she taught the children of her oppressed people, in Penal Ireland.

Nano will help you.  Ask her to help you, and kindly report any favours received through her intercession to

Sr. Roisin Gannon,
Chairperson,
Nano Nagle Commision,
Presentation Sisters,
Mount St. Anne's,
Portarlington,
Co. Laois.

Tel: 057-8626153