Presentation Sisters commemorated by unveiling of plaque in Bagenalstown
Bishop Denis Nulty unveils a plaque in St Andew's Church, Bagenalstown in honour of the Presentation Sisters, with Fr Declan Foley and Fr Shem Furlong Photo: Margaret Walsh
THE Presentation Sisters, who had a presence in Bagenalstown for over 180 years before they left in 2019, were honoured by the unveiling of a plaque in St Andrew’s Church on 12 September.
The sisters were invited to Bagenalstown in 1838 to establish a primary school in the village. Local Catholic priest Fr Micheál Prendergast has been traditionally credited with bringing the Presentation Order to Bagenalstown, though some dispute this.
The nuns arrived in August 1838 and worked fast to open a primary school in the town in September.
During the Great Famine in the 1840s, they provided food and other relief to local people and it is said that they fed most of the town. As part of the , the convent was given money to build a small library to loan out books to local people.
They converted an old Orange Lodge into the first convent, but by 1852 they were providing so many services that they had to considerably enlarge it. It was reported that before they extended the convent, the nuns had to give classes in the yard, such was the local demand for education.
Over the latter half of the 19th century, they expanded the primary school and continued to provide relief to local people during other famines.
In 1901, the sisters established a secondary school for girls in the town and a report from the time says that they taught a wide range of subjects, including ‘religion, Irish, English, mathematics, French, physiology, history, botany, geography, domestic science, drawing and lace making’. The school was also said to have had so many students learning instruments that it had a complete orchestra.
The primary school operated out of the same building until a new school was built on Regent Street and opened in 1957.
In 1983, the local boys school, St Joseph’s, which was run by the local de la Salle Brothers order, and the Presentation Sisters school for girls were amalgamated into Presentation de la Salle school, as it is known today. Many of the nuns that had taught in the Presentation school continued teaching until they retired.
In 1986, the old Presentation Convent and primary school was demolished as it had been declared unsafe. The order donated the land on which the convent stood to BEAM (Barrow Valley Enterprises for Adult Members with Special Needs), which built a centre there.
The last of the nuns left Bagenalstown in 2019, although a number of sisters who still live locally attended the unveiling of the plaque. Bishop Denis Nulty, Fr Declan Foley and Fr Shem Furlong oversaw the unveiling ceremony.
