Who We Are

The Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a Roman Catholic religious congregation of women. 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 congregation now based in New Windsor, New York. Today our Sisters work in education, pastoral ministry, health care, and social services in New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C. We are part of a worldwide network of 3000 Presentation Sisters and Presentation Associates through the International Presentation Association.   
 

Our Beginnings The Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary were founded in Ireland in 1775 by Nano Nagle. She felt she was called by God to bring the light of faith to the poor 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, she became known as the “Lady With the Lantern”. In time she gathered other women 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 Charitable Instruction of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, later became known as the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and Newburgh, New York In September, 1874, twelve brave Presentation Sisters from Ireland, led by Mother Joseph Hickey, responded to an invitation to teach the children of poor Irish immigrants at Saint Michael’s parish in New York City. Because many of the children’s parents had died, St. Michael’s soon opened an orphanage on Staten Island, also staffed by Presentation Sisters. In 1884, this became the home of the newly etablished 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 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.