Meet Nano Nagle
Voted ‘Ireland’s Greatest Woman’ and described as ‘the kind of person to win a Nobel Prize’, Nano Nagle lived an incredible life of service.
Fighting for the transformation of unjust systems
Nano Nagle was born in 1718, in a time of immense inequality in Ireland.
The Penal Laws of the time prohibited the education of those who did not adhere to the Established Church and this kept the majority of people in Ireland impoverished, downtrodden and kept in ignorance. These laws meant that Catholics were forbidden to run schools, forcing more affluent Catholics to send their children to France and other European countries to be educated.
In this social quagmire, where intolerance and fear led to great misery and poverty, Nano Nagle was to become a transformative presence and a pioneer of Catholic education in Ireland.
Nano Nagle’s parents sent her to France to be educated and she went on to become a sister there. Even as she began her new life as a sister, Nano’s thoughts often returned to the children of the poor families back in Ireland.
The Lady of the Lantern
At age of 32, she left the convent in France and returned to Ireland. On her return, she was so disturbed by the plight of the poor, that, with the financial support of her family, she immediately set up a number of hedge schools in Cork to educate the Catholic children. She secretly gathered the children of the poor and taught them the catechism, reading, writing and mathematics.
As Nano spent her days with the children, they would tell her of their sick friends or family members. Nano began to visit the sick and the elderly after school, bringing them food, medicine and comfort. She often made visits late into the night, carrying her lamp among the alleyways. Because of this, Nano was fondly known as the ‘Lady of the Lantern’, going out to visit lonely and sick women in their homes, their garrets and their mud cabins, bringing them her compassionate presence and whatever help she could.
Between mid-1750 and 1769, she had opened seven schools, including two for boys, in Cork.
Love one another
In 1775 Nano, with three other women, founded the Presentation Congregation. They opened the first convent in Cork, Ireland, on Christmas Day in 1775.
Nano continued to work tirelessly in the service of the poor until her death on the 26th of April 1784 at the age of 65. She left her compelling vision of service to a growing community of Presentation Sisters. Her final words are emblematic of her timeless legacy, and they remain a guiding principle for the sisters:
“Love one another as you have hitherto done.”
In 2005, she was voted ‘Ireland's Greatest Woman’ in a public vote competition run by RTÉ radio. Her spirit continues today and she was pronounced Venerable by Pope Francis in 2013.
“We are delighted. . . the Universal Church has recognised Nano as a woman of faith, hope and heroic virtue whose vision and work transformed the lives of so many.”
Sr Mary Deane