Our Story
The Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary are a Roman Catholic religious congregation of women committed to the service of God and the spread of the Gospel. We carry out our mission of love and service through our many ministries with God’s people, especially poor women and children.
In 1997, the Sisters of the Presentation of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and the Sisters of the Presentation of Newburgh, New York, united to form one new congregation now based in New Windsor, New York. Our Sisters carry out their ministries of education, pastoral work, health care, and social services in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Washington, D.C., and Bolivia, South America. We are part of a worldwide network of 3000 Presentation Sisters and Presentation Associates.
Beginnings The Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary were founded in Ireland in 1775 by Nano Nagle. The daughter of wealthy Irish parents, Nano Nagle felt called by God to bring the light of faith to the poor and uneducated children of Cork. The Penal Laws of the time forbade any form of Catholic instruction in Ireland but Nano Nagle was willing to risk imprisonment and disgrace for the sake of the Gospel . Visiting the sick and homebound by night along Cork’s cobbled streets, Nano Nagle became known as the “Lady with the Lantern”. Other women joined Nano in her work. In time she gathered three of them together to form a new society of women religious dedicated to the 
service of the poor. Nano Nagle’s small band of women, originally named the Society of CharitableInstruction of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, later became known as the Sisters of the Presentation of theBlessed Virgin Mary.
Motto The motto inscribed on the Nagle family’s coat of arms was Non Vox Sed Votum, Not Words But Deeds. Nano Nagle and the Presentation Sisters who followed in her footsteps have always taken these words to heart. The motto sums up more than two hundred years of active service as the Sisters spread from Cork across Ireland and eventually to other parts of the world, including North America. Wherever our Sisters went, they opened schools, hospitals, orphanages, and places of refuge for the poor and powerless. They continue this outreach today.
Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and Newburgh, New York In 1874, Rev. Arthur Donnelly, pastor of St. Michael’s Church in Manhattan, invited Presentation Sisters to come to New York from Ireland to staff the new parish school. Led by Mother Joseph Hickey, twelve Sisters from three different Presentation Convents responded. On their arrival in New York, the Sisters began immediately to teach the children of poor Irish immigrants. Because many children were orphaned, St. Michael’s parish opened an orphanage on Staten Island, also staffed by Presentation Sisters. In 1884, this became the home of the newly established Sisters of the Presentation of Staten Island. In 1886, Mother Magdalen Keating set out from Staten Island with a small group of Sisters to begin a flourishing new foundation in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. The Sisters eventually opened schools and other ministries in other areas of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. In 1921, Presentation Sisters from St. Michael’s purchased property near the city of Newburgh, New York. Later this site, Mount Saint Joseph, became the motherhouse of the Sisters of the Presentation of Newburgh. In July, 1997, after six years of study and preparation, the Fitchburg and Newburgh Presentation congregations became one. Today the Sisters of the Presentation of New Windsor, New York, celebrate ten years of shared history. We look ahead to a future full of hope.