The Presentation Sisters were founded by Nano Nagle in 1775 in Ireland which was then under the British Empire. Daring the impossible and challenging the unjust laws of the British, Nano, as a lay woman, at the risk of her life, secretly opened schools for the children, who were roaming on the streets of Cork city, living in abject poverty. At night she went into the hovels of the city with the dim light of her lantern bringing solace and care for the sick and those in prison. She soon became known as the Lady of the Lantern. The Congregation she founded in her later years were to be devoted mainly to the education of the poorest of the poor.

The Presentation Sisters established their presence in Goa in 1957 in Orlim and in Vasco in 1958. Later communities were started in Avedem in Quepem, Verem in Reis Magos and Nagoa, Bardez. The Nagoa community was established in the ancestral house of the late Dr. Edward Pires and Mary Magdalene Pires at Dias Vaddo in 2002. Dr. Pires was an educationist and was involved in Teacher Training in Peshawar, Nagpur and Delhi. Subsequently he was sent on education assignments by UNESCO to Bangkok, Manila and Beirut before he retired in Canada.

The Nagoa Community known as “Premanjali” (Love Offering), was started as a formation house for young women desirous to join the Presentation Way of Life. Later, it housed young Sisters who were pursuing higher education at St. Xavier’s College, Mapuca. These young Sisters became very much a part of the Community in Dias Vaddo and brought their youthful enthusiasm and energy to the people in different ways.

Today the Sisters are engaged in different issues like supporting those with HIV Aids, Prevention of Human Trafficking, Issues of Violence against Women, Care of the Earth, and Education of Migrants regarding their basic human rights. Plans are afoot to bring together those belonging to the LGBTQ community. All these groups live on the raw edges, the peripheries of our Society today and suffer discrimination in many ways. We also want to bring alive in some way, our Congregation’s thrust of a “Spirituality of Being in Communion”

The Friends of Nano, a group of lay persons interested in the mission of the Presentation Sisters, was started in 2019, with the intention of collaborating with the Sisters in all their ministries. While few in numbers they are a group committed to the vision of Nano Nagle for the world of today, and specifically for the unmet needs of today’s Goan society.

The Sisters are also part of the Parish Community and belong to different groups engaged in advancing the pastoral work of the parish, together with the Parish Priest, the members of the Parish Council and the parishioners.

We pray that as our future evolves we may be alert to the many unmet needs of our times, going to the peripheries of our society, and have the courage and daring to respond to them, and use our voice to speak truth to power as both Jesus and Nano did in their times.
If anybody is interested in joining the Presentation Sisters or the Friends of Nano please contact the Sisters at: Presentation Sisters, Premanjali, House No.245, Dias Vaddo, Nagoa, Calangute PO , Bardez Goa 403518.