-
The Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary were founded in Cork, Ireland, in 1775 by Nano Nagle. In 1874, Mother Joseph Hickey and 11 other Presentation sisters left Ireland to come to New York. Soon after their arrival on September 8, 1874, the sisters began their work of teaching at Saint Michael School on West 31st Street; their first enrollment was 600 children.
In 1884 Bishop Corrigan of the Archdiocese of New York separated the sisters of Staten Island from the sisters in New York. The sisters in Staten Island became a new congregation. Mother Teresa Reynolds became the major superior and she and four other sisters began their work at the home for orphaned children at the Frost Farm on Staten Island.
In 1886, a second group of sisters, under the leadership of Mother Magdalen Keating, left New York to establish a foundation in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. The sisters went on to found schools and initiate new ministries in many locations in the northeastern United States and elsewhere, including the New Orleans area.
In 1997, the two congregations of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and Newburgh, New York, united to form one new congregation of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary of New Windsor.
After 150 years, the sisters continue to serve those most in need, committed to the Gospel values of hope, justice, freedom and human dignity, acting for and with the poor and oppressed of our world and caring for the Earth.