The Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Sacred Heart Convent arrived in Fargo in July 1882. Four days later, St. Joseph’s Free School was opened.   In 1897 they opened Sacred Heart College and Academy/Shanley High School and St. John’s Orphanage.  For the next 89 years, they shaped Catholic education throughout the area, opening ten schools in eastern North Dakota, including four Catholic grade schools in Fargo.  Their ministry and service of education characterize the Sisters to this day 

Since coming to Fargo the Presentation Sisters have committed their personal and corporate resources to the promotion of peace and justice through education, advocacy and compassionate service to meet the needs of people, especially the poor and vulnerable.  Today their mission is lived out through their corporate ministries for individuals and families who struggle with the complexities of modern life: 

From The London Tablet - January 11, 2003 -

Nun Heads Popularity Stakes
The “greatest Irish person of all time” is the founder of an order of nuns, according to an Irish newspaper poll. Sr. Nano Nagle beat two former presidents of Ireland, Mary Robinson and Eamon De Valera, and the literary giants W.B. Yeats and James Joyce in the Sunday Tribune survey.
   Nano Nagle was born in 1718 in Cork.  She was educated in France and joined a Parisian convent, but returned to Ireland to work with poor Catholic children. She opened Catholic schools in Cork - although they were illegal at the time- which educated hundred of children.  In 1775, she founded an order of nuns called the Sisters of Charitable Instruction of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, who name was subsequently changed to the Order of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
   The Presentation Sisters now have 3,500 nuns in 27 countries, including 106 communities and 960 sisters in Ireland.
 

Presentation History

1101 32nd Avenue South ~ Fargo, North Dakota 58103
(701)237-4857 ~ FAX: (701)237-9822

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