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ABSTRACT
This article examines some of the legacy of the Irish education pioneer Nano Nagle, foundress of the Presentation congregation of nuns. The congregation spread rapidly in the nineteenth century, not only in Ireland but also in Newfoundland, India, England, Tasmania, Australia and continental North America. This year, Presentation schools globally mark the tercentenary of Nagle’s birth, and it is therefore timely to consider approaches to writing about her life and her contribution to education. The article discusses existing biographical studies of Nagle and argues that a more nuanced study of this educator and her legacy is possible, through the careful and systematic use of convent archives and oral histories. The article considers how such research can offer new perspectives on the agency and innovation of individual teaching Sisters, and on ways in which these women became resilient and adaptable, in order to function effectively within a patriarchal Church.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of Sr Rosarie Lorden, Archivist, Presentation Sisters Congregational Archives, Cork; Sr Marie Therese King, Archivist, North East Province, and Sr Ann Coffey, Archivist, South West Province, Ireland. The authors acknowledge with thanks the helpful responses of the peer reviewers of the draft article.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1 The terms ‘nun’ and ‘Sister’ are used interchangeably in scholarship and in common use, as are the terms ‘Order’ and ‘Congregation’. In this article we use these terms interchangeably. Strictly speaking, members of religious orders are nuns who take solemn vows and are distinguished from members of religious congregations, or Sisters, who take simple vows. The Presentations commenced their mission as Sisters with simple vows, but quickly became an enclosed Order of nuns with solemn vows. Enclosure gradually became impractical in the contexts in which they worked. Their Rule was relaxed to allow them to move easily outside their enclosure. Publications on the Presentations use the term ‘nun’, ‘Sister’ and ‘religious’ interchangeably. By embracing the interchangeable use of these terms we avoid compromising the online searchability of the article. For discussions of the uses of the term ‘nun’ and ’Sister’ see: Tony Fahey, ‘Nuns in the Catholic Church in Ireland in the Nineteenth Century’, in Girls Don’t Do Honours: Irish Women in Education in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, ed. Mary Cullen (Dublin: Argus Press, 1987), 7–30; Caitríona Clear, Nuns in Nineteenth Century Ireland (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 1987).
2 Bart Hellinckx, Frank Simon and Marc Depaepe, The Forgotten Contribution of the Teaching Sisters (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2010).
3 Ibid., 25.
4 Ibid.
5 Ibid.
6 For a discussion of Nagle and the education of the poor in France see Deirdre Raftery, Catriona Delaney and Catherine Nowlan-Roebuck, Nano Nagle: The Life and the Legacy (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2018), 23–4.
7 Nano Nagle to Miss Fitzsimons, July 17, 1769. Presentation Sisters Congregational Archives (hereafter PSCA), IE PBVM NN 1/1/1.
8 See for example B. Dowd and S. Tearle, eds., Centenary History of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, 1874–1974 (Wagga Wagga, NSW: Sisters of the PBVM, 1973); M. R. Forest, With Hearts of Oak: The Story of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in California, 1854–1907 (San Francisco: Sisters of the PBVM, 2004); Noelle M. Fox, An Acorn Grows among the Gums: The Presentation Sisters in Tasmania, 1866–2006 (Tasmania: Presentation Sisters Property Association, 2006); C. Galvin, From Acorn to Oak: A Study of Presentation Foundations, 1775–1968 (Fargo, North Dakota: Sisters of the PBVM, 1968); and Rosa MacGinley, Roads to Sion: Presentation Sisters in Australia, 1866–1980 (Queensland: published by the Sisters of the PBVM, 1983).
9 This is discussed in Deirdre Raftery, ‘The Third Wave is Digital: Researching the History of Women Religious’, American Catholic Studies 128, no. 2 (2017): 29–50.
10 Issues of access are discussed in Elizabeth Smyth, ‘Teacher Education within the Congregation of the Sisters of St Joseph of Toronto, Canada, 1851–1920’, History of Education Review 23, no. 3 (1994): 97–113 and in Deirdre Raftery, ‘Religions and the History of Education: A Historiography’, History of Education 41, no. 1 (2012): 41–56.
11 For a review of publications on Nagle, see Raftery et al., Nano Nagle.
12 Research for this article, and for Nano Nagle: the Life and the Legacy, has been undertaken in North America, Newfoundland, England and throughout Ireland (30 archival collections). Records relating to convents and schools in India, Zambia and Zimbabwe have been consulted in the PSCA. We gratefully acknowledge the permission of the archivists of the Presentation Sisters Congregational Archives, Cork, and George’s Hill Archives, Dublin, to cite from their collections.
13 For a discussion of Charter schools and their eventual demise see Kenneth Milne, The Irish Charter Schools, 1730–1830 (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1997); see also Deirdre Raftery and Susan M. Parkes, Female Education in Ireland, 1700–1900: Minerva or Madonna (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2007); and Michael C. Coleman, ‘“The children are used wretchedly”: Pupil Responses to the Irish Charter Schools in the Early Nineteenth Century’, History of Education 30, no. 4 (2001): 339–57.
14 For information on hedge schools see P. J. Dowling, The Hedge Schools of Ireland (Cork: Mercier Press, 1968); and Antonia McManus, The Irish Hedge School and its Books, 1695–1831 (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2002).
15 Nano Nagle to Miss Fitzsimons, July 17, 1769. PSCA, IE PBVM NN 1/1/1.
16 Nano Nagle to Miss Mulally, August 24, 1778. George’s Hill Archive Dublin, IE PBVM 3/1/1/3.
17 For further information on the principles of religious life see also Arthur Devine, Convent Life: or The Duties of Sisters Dedicated in Religion to the Service of God (New York: Benziger Brothers, 1890).
18 South Presentation Convent Cork (1775), Presentation Convent Killarney (1793), Presentation Convent George’s Hill, Dublin (1794), Presentation Convent Waterford (1798), North Presentation Convent Cork (1799), Presentation Convent Kilkenny (1800), Presentation Convent Richmond, Dublin (1807), Presentation Convent Tralee (1809), Presentation Convent Dungarvan (1809), Presentation Convent Carlow (1811), Presentation Convent Drogheda (1813), Presentation Convent Carrick-on-Suir (1813), Presentation Convent Clonmel (1813), Presentation Convent Galway (1815), Presentation Convent Rahan (1817), Presentation Convent Thurles (1817), Presentation Convent Doneraile (1818), Presentation Convent Wexford (1818), Presentation Convent Maryborough (1824), Presentation Convent Maynooth (1824), Presentation Convent Mullingar (1825), Presentation Convent Kildare (1829), Presentation Convent Castlecomer (1829), Presentation Convent Bandon (1829), Presentation Convent Enniscorthy (1829), Presentation Convent Dingle (1829), Presentation Convent Mooncoin (1830), Presentation Convent Cashel (1830).
19 For a full conspectus of all foundations made in Ireland and abroad up to the year 1873, see W. Hutch, Nano Nagle: Her Life, Her Labours and Their Fruits (Dublin: McGlashan & Gill, 1875).
20 Deirdre Bennett, The Presentation Convent Maryborough: Towards an Appraisal of the Role of Nuns in Education in Early Nineteenth-Century Ireland (unpublished MEd thesis, School of Education, UCD, 2015).
21 See T. J. Walsh, Nano Nagle and the Presentation Sisters (Dublin: M.H. Gill & Son, 1959).
22 George’s Hill Archives Dublin, IE PBVM MCN/ 21/1.
23 South Presentation Convent Cork, Income and Expenditure 1824–1872, PSCA (uncatalogued).
24 Presentation Convent Doneraile Annals, IE PBVM PSCA DON 1/1(4).
25 Presentation Convent Maryborough Annals, Vol. 1, IE PBVM PLE.
26 Presentation Convent Maryborough, MS copy Community Income and Expenses, 1824–1848, IE PBVM PLE.
27 A dowry was a sum of money required to place a woman in a monastic retreat, usually lower than a marriage dowry. See Silvia Evangelisti, Nuns: A History of Convent Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007). The money was generally invested with only the interest being used by the community and the original sum returned to the woman if she chose to leave the convent.
28 Mary Peckham Magray, The Transforming Power of the Nuns: Women, Religion and Cultural Change in Ireland, 1750–1900 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998); Catriona Clear, Nuns in Nineteenth Century Ireland (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 1987).
29 Evidence for this exists in the records of the Loreto Sisters (IBVM) and the Sisters of the Society of the Sacred Heart (RSCJ). See Deirdre Raftery, ‘Je suis d’aucune Nation: The Recruitment and Identity of Irish Women Religious in the International Mission Field, c. 1840–1940’, Paedagogica Historica: International Journal of the History of Education 49, no. 4 (2013): 519.
30 Presentation Convent Doneraile Annals, MS document, IE PBVM DON 1/1/2; Presentation Convent Doneraile, yearly account book 1818–1891, IE PBVM DON 1/38(1).
31 North Presentation Convent Cork Annals, Vol. 1, 1838–1845, IE PBVM NPC. An account of the early years of the foundation is written in retrospect.
32 Angelina Gould had an inheritance of £60,000 that she used, with the assistance of her appointed trustees, to found several convents in the dioceses of Cork and Ross. See Presentation Convent Doneraile Annals, MS document, IE PBVM DON 1/1/2; Presentation Convent Youghal, Bound MS Annals 1834–1941, IE PBVM YOU. Commemorative booklet, Mother Mary Magdalen Gould of Youghal: A Sermon by John MacCarthy, Presentation Convent Youghal, IE PBVM YOU.
33 See Deirdre Raftery and Catherine Nowlan-Roebuck, ‘Convent Schools and National Education in Nineteenth-Century Ireland: Negotiating a Place Within a Non-denominational System’, History of Education 36, no. 3 (2007): 353–65.
34 British Parliamentary Papers, Appendix to the Twenty-Second Report of the Commissioners of National Education for the Year 1855, 381.
35 Book of Applications 1849–53, no. 183. Quoted in Walsh, Nano Nagle, 220.
36 This figure is based on data contained in a ‘Conspectus of the Presentation Order’ in Hutch, Nano Nagle, which lists foundations, by year, up to 1873, and from data contained in a chart attached to the appendices in Walsh, Nano Nagle.
37 Paul Cullen was Archbishop of Dublin from 1852 to 1878. During this period, the Catholic prelate exerted tremendous influence in political, social and religious matters of the time. He was particularly concerned with the development of Irish Catholic education and when asked his opinion regarding extending intermediate education to the labouring class, Cullen stated that ‘Too high an education will make the poor oftentimes disconnected, and will unsuit them for following the plough, or for using the spade, or hammering iron or building walls. The poor ought to be educated with a view to the place they hold in society….’ See Royal Commission of Inquiry into Primary Education (Ireland), vol. I, part 1. Report of the Commissioners; with an Appendix; 1870 (c.6) XXXVIII.1, 506.
38 Under the terms of the Act, a board of seven commissioners and two assistant commissioners were to be appointed. The board was to be responsible for the development and operation of a system of public examinations for intermediate schools. School authorities that complied with the regulations devised by the board were awarded fees based on the success of their pupils at public examinations. See Áine Hyland, ‘Intermediate Education’, in Irish Educational Documents, Vol. I, ed. Áine Hyland and Kenneth Milne (Dublin: Church of Ireland College of Education, 1987), 201.
39 Anne V. O’Connor, ‘The Revolution in Girls’ Secondary Education’, in Cullen, Girls Don't Do Honours, 38–9.
40 The ‘native’ Irish congregations were the Brigidine Sisters, who managed four schools located in Tullow, Mountrath, Abbeyleix and Goresbridge; the Mercy Sisters, who operated a school in Ennis; and the Holy Faith Sisters who conducted a boarding school in Glasnevin.
41 In 1924 Seosamh O’Neill and Proinnsias O’Dubhthaight, the Intermediate Education Commissioners of the Department of Education, produced the first programme for secondary schools. The purpose of the programme was to provide school managers with direct guidelines compliant with the Intermediate Education (Ireland) Acts, 1878 and 1924. See Department of Education, Rules and Programme for Secondary Schools, 1925 (Dublin: DE, 1925), 3 (hereafter, DE, Rules and Programmes).
42 DE, Annual Report, 1924–5, 54.
43 In order to achieve recognition, managers of second-level institutions had to apply in writing to the Department of Education. The final date for acceptance of applications differed from year to year but tended to range between 15 August and 1 September. See DE, Rules and Programmes (1924–58).
44 These conditions included a suitable school premises, a sufficient number of staff and pupils, provision of ‘the necessary subjects’ outlined in the school curriculum, permission for the visitation of school inspectors to ascertain ‘if the Department’s regulations are being observed’ and the furnishing of school records to the Department of Education such as examination results and school timetables. See DE, Rules and Programmes, 1940–1, 6–7.
45 DE, Annual Report, 1940–1, 94.
46 The Presentations in St John’s, Newfoundland had been providing teacher training in their school since the 1860s but it was not formally recognised by the government as a teacher training college until 1892. See Sr M. James Dinn, Foundation of the Presentation Congregation in Newfoundland (Presentation Convent, Newfoundland, privately published pamphlet, 1975), 26.
47 Indian Province Annals, Madras. PSCA, IE PBVM 90/1/9/5/1.
48 See Raftery et al., Nano Nagle, 178–89.
49 Ibid., 184–5.
50 Ibid.
51 ‘The Convent on the Hill, Matlock’ (n.d., n.p.), IE 90/1/9/5/1.
52 The particulars of this free education scheme were printed in the Sunday Press, September 11, 1966 and included: ‘The introduction of a scheme beginning in September of next year whereby … the opportunity for free post-primary education will be available to all families…’. Cited in Eileen Randles, Post-primary Education in Ireland, 1957–70 (Dublin: Veritas Publications, 1975), 218–19.
53 John Walsh, The Politics of Expansion: The Transformation of Educational Policy in the Republic of Ireland, 1957–72 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2008), 118.
54 Ibid.
55 Department of Education, Annual Report, 1965–66 (Dublin: DE, 1966), 89–91.
56 Department of Education, Data on Individual Schools, 1965–66 (Dublin: DE, 1966).
57 Interview, Sister Lillian, County Galway, October 11, 2014.
58 Interview, Sr Mary, County Kilkenny, June 20, 2014.
59 Interview, Sr Attracta, County Tipperary, May 20, 2014.
60 Interview, Sr Imelda, County Limerick, March 18, 2014.
61 Randles, Post-primary Education, 266.
62 DE, Annual Report, 1967–68.
63 Randles, Post-primary Education, 268.
64 Ibid.
65 Interview, Sr Hannah, County Wexford, May 22, 2014.
66 Interview, Sr Veronica, County Kildare, October 27, 2014.
67 Ibid.
68 For a discussion of existing research and the potential for new research in this field, see Hellinckx et al., The Forgotten Contribution of the Teaching Sisters.
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Notes on contributors
Deirdre Raftery
Deirdre Raftery is a historian of education at University College Dublin, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She is former co-editor of History of Education, and has served on the Executive Committee of the History of Education Society (UK). Deirdre has eleven book publications and has given keynotes and lectures in the USA, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, India, Canada and the UK. She was a Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford (2010) and Fulbright Scholar, Boston College (2015).
Catriona Delaney
Catriona Delaney is a post-doctoral fellow at the School of Education, University College Dublin. She completed her PhD at the Department of History, University of Limerick. Together with Deirdre Raftery and Catherine Nowlan-Roebuck, she co-authored Nano Nagle: the Life and the Legacy (2018). She and has contributed articles to several journals and is a member of the steering committee of the H-WRBI. She has presented her work at ISCHE (Berlin, 2019), and at several conferences of the History of Education Society (UK).
Deirdre Bennett
Deirdre Bennett is a doctoral student, completing her research under the supervision of Professor Deirdre Raftery, at University College Dublin. She was awarded a Brian Simon Bursary for her research presentation at ISCHE (Berlin, 2019); she has also presented at the History of Education Society (UK), and won a UCD GRIF award to present at the American Conference of the History of Women Religious (San Francisco, 2016).