THE PRESENTATION SCHOOLS 1825-2025

Early Years 1825 – 1875

In 1817 the Mullingar businessman Thomas Lynch left money in his will to establish a community of nuns who would “devote themselves specially to the education of the poor of Mullingar”. He left the money from the sale of his business premises and stock, to the value of £800, for the foundation of a convent and school.

With the support of Bishop Patrick Plunkett, the Administrator of Mullingar, Fr Michael McCormick chose a site for the convent close to the parish chapel, just off Bishopsgate Street, an area then known as the ‘Back of the Town’. Work began on the convent in 1820 and funding for convent and school also came from the Martin family of Bishopsgate Street, who were, like Thomas Lynch, part of the affluent Roman Catholic middle – class of Mullingar. Miss Eleanor Martin gave £600 towards the school and in the months before the arrival of the nuns she “gathered all the poor girls she could induce to come for a few hours’ instruction every day in her house”.

The Presentation Order, also known then as The Sisters of Charitable Instruction, had been founded in Cork by Nano Nagle in 1775, and by 1825 had established a number of convents and schools across the country. On October 29, 1825 three members of the Order travelled to Mullingar by canal boat from Dublin, escorted by Fr McCormick. They were a mixture of experience and youth. Mother Xavier Doyle, who would serve as the first principal or superioress, was 63, a native of Cork who had been a nun for 36 years when she came to Mullingar. Sr Clare Healey was from Kilkenny and had been a nun for three years. Miss Marie Nugent was from Dublin and was a postulant.

Their arrival in Mullingar was a historic moment as it was the first time that a female religious order had been established in the town. The three women moved into the newly finished convent building and the first Mass was said in the convent on November 7, 1825.

On February 1, the nuns opened their school. The first schoolhouse was in a two – storey building, described as “a temporary cabin” on Bishopsgate Street, where St Mary’s Hall is now. There was a boys school on the ground floor and the girls were taught on the upper floor. The girls were taught reading, writing and arithmetic, as well as sewing, knitting and spinning. In the early years the students were also taught straw plaiting and lace making, which they did with great proficiency, and the school supplied local businesses, which paid the students for their work. From 1833, the school was designated as a Girls Free School under the National Education Board. The Board provided £25 a year to pay the salary of a lay teacher.

On April 11, 1826 Miss Marie Nugent made her final profession as a nun in an historic ceremony at the parish chapel. Built in 1731, the chapel stood on the site of the present Parish Community Centre. Bishop Plunkett presided over the ceremony and an entrance charge raised £200 for the school. It was the first ceremony of reception for a nun in the history of Mullingar and a large congregation, including many members of the local Protestant community, were in attendance.

A report in the Westmeath Journal described the event: “A group of female children dressed in white and crowned with snow – white chaplets advanced towards the altar. Next to these innocents followed a young lady carrying a crucifix, after which the ladies of the Presentation Order in their black robes, large hoods and trains presented themselves. The majestic solemnity of this imposing ceremony was completed by the appearance of a young and beautiful postulant dressed in all the beautiful attire of that world to which she was now to bid a long adieu.”

Work began on a new school building beside the convent in 1838, using funds from the Heavey Trust – money left in his will by local brewer James Heavey towards provision of schools for the poor children of the town.

Both the school and the convent were badly damaged by the hurricane known as the ‘Night of the Big Wind’ in January 1839. Repairs were carried out, and the new school opened in 1842.

In May 1843, during his visit to Mullingar to address a mass political meeting on the Fair Green, Daniel O’Connell paid a courtesy visit to the nuns and attended Mass in the convent chapel and had breakfast. After the meeting on the Fair Green, a banquet was held in his honour in the school.

The Heavey Trust made grants of £15 worth of clothing and two tons of oatmeal annually for the Presentation pupils. In 1840, at a time of great economic distress in the town, the nuns provided breakfasts for 600 girls. During the Great Famine, the nuns fed about 100 poor children in the convent daily and helped organise donations of food and clothing to the many families living on the brink of destitution.

Mother Xavier Doyle returned to Dublin in 1832. Her successors in the following half century as superioress included Mother Mary De Sales Nugent and Sr Mary Paul. The number of nuns in the Mullingar community was growing, and six sisters made their final profession at the dedication ceremony for the new St Mary’s Cathedral in 1836.

In 1850, Mother De Sales Nugent and two other nuns were sent to India to join the Presentation Convent in Madras (Chennai), founded by Irish nuns in 1841. Another six nuns would go to India in 1859 and 1863 and the connections between Mullingar and Madras would continue for more than a century.

1875 to 1945

By 1870, the number of pupils in the school had reached 300. A new chapel for the convent was built in 1883 and in 1898, St Joseph’s Infants School opened. By then, St Mary’s CBS had opened to cater for the education of the boys of the town and the boy pupils left Presentation after Infants School. As one past pupil, the writer Leo Daly wrote: “Having learned your tables and your prayers and your sins, you walked up the steps out of Presentation and left the nuns behind you forever. You were now the responsibility of the Christian Brothers.” The girls stayed on until sixth or seventh class (age 12 or 13) and by the end of the 19th century, the majority of the Roman Catholic girls of the town from all social classes were being educated by the Presentation Sisters.

The Presentation Order was an enclosed one and so the nuns did not leave the convent and school except for special ceremonies such as the consecration and funerals of bishops, and the dedication of St Mary’s Cathedral in 1836. They took care of the decorations and sacristy in the cathedral and had their own room there.

Enclosure did not prevent them from playing a major part in the religious as well as the educational life of the town. In 1878, the Sodality of the Children of Mary was founded at a meeting in the convent and nuns served as leaders of the Sodality throughout its century-long existence. In the 20th century, the Presentation Sisters supported the work of organisations such as the St Vincent de Paul, the Legion of Mary and the Pioneers and many past pupils became active members of those organisations.

Presentation School also contributed much to the cultural life of the town. Pupils were encouraged to play music, to sing and to act. A fundraising concert for the school held in St Mary’s Hall in 1884 featured performances by pupils whose names would appear on concert and drama programmes in Mullingar over the next half century.

By the 1910s, the number of pupils was growing and plans were put forward to expand both the convent and school. A large number of fundraising events were held between 1918 and 1921 and the new convent extension opened in 1923. Electric lighting came to the school and convent in 1930. (Gas lighting had been provided since 1859.) New classrooms were built in 1935 and 1936. Originally, the school seems to have had just three classrooms – known to pupils as ‘the gallery, the deskus and t’other room’. The playground between the infants school and the junior school contained a covered area known as the colonnade. At break time, no matter what the weather, the call would go up, ‘All out to the colonnade’.

The centenary of the convent and school in 1925 was marked with a Mass and the presentation of an address to the Sisters by members of Mullingar Town Commission. Chairman of the Commission, Richard Corcoran, praised the nuns for their service to the children of Mullingar. “For 100 years, the Presentation Sisters have been the zealous and kind instructors of the girls of this town. They have kept the light of religious learning shining brightly in the schools.”

He also praised their social work. “Were it not for their dedicated work providing breakfasts for those children in need and also distributing boots and clothing for the SVP, children would be in a bad way indeed.” Mr Corcoran also noted that the nuns continued to take an interest in the welfare of their past pupils, often seeking employment for them.

The Presentation Sisters were deeply supportive of Irish language and culture. In the 1930s, the school choirs excelled in competitions such as the All-Ireland Feis and the Mullingar based Midland Feis.

The choir trained by Sr Gertrude Scally won the All0Ireland Feis Choir competition in 1933 and sang at the Children’s Mass in the Phoenix Park during the Eucharistic Congress in June 1932. Pupils regularly won prizes for Irish compositions and recitations at the Midland Feis, which took place annually in Mullingar from 1904. Prize winning students included the future founding member and chairperson of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, Kathleen (Cait) Moynihan.

1945 to 1975

The school continued to grow during the 1940s and 1950s and had 900 pupils by 1954. It was decided to build a new school for the senior pupils (fourth, fifth and sixth classes). Work began in 1955 and the site on Harbour Street was blessed by Bishop John Kyne on November 21 (Presentation Day). The new building, Scoil na Maighne Mhuire, was officially opened on September 12, 1957 and there were 294 pupils. Bishop Kyne blessed the classrooms and said Mass in the assembly hall. The Presentation Sisters paid for the building. In 1951, Bishop Kyne decided that each nun should have a two-week summer holiday by the seaside. Enniscrone was the choice for the first holiday, in 1952. (Continues overleaf.)

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The Mullingar Presentation Sisters were still involved in work overseas. In 1958, four nuns went to the USA to open a new convent and school in Mobile, Alabama. It was a challenging mission in an area with few Catholics and much virulent anti-Catholic prejudice. Sisters from Mullingar also worked in the Presentation School in Rawalpindi. Pakistan, where their pupils included the future prime minister of that country, Benazir Bhutto.

There were major changes in the 1960s as the Second Vatican Council reforms led to the end of the Rule of Enclosure and a new religious uniform replaced the heavy ankle length skirts and all encompassing veil of the old habit.

The school continued to grow and extensions to the Infants School and the provision of 10 new prefab classrooms for the Junior and Senior schools came 1968 and 1979.

In 1972, an assembly hall and gym for the Junior School was built. The pupil numbers were then around 1,100.

The Presentation teachers and pupils continued to take an active role in the religious and cultural life of Mullingar. The pupils were involved in the Marian Year celebrations in 1954 and took part in the pageant at the opening of the All-Ireland Fleadh in 1963. Pupils and past pupils were also among the competitors at the 1951 and 1963 Fleadhs in the town. The schools also took part in the commemorative events marking the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising in 1966.

There was a strong Nationalist/Republican ethos in the Presentation school from the Rising onwards and proficiency in Irish was encouraged. In 1969, the nuns helped to care for Catholic refugees fleeing the outbreak of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The convent grounds had been expanded in the early 1900s and were considered to be particularly beautiful. One writer in the 1930s compared the convent gardens to the Garden of Eden!

The annual May Procession around the grounds was a highlight of the parish year and the nuns, lay teachers and pupils took part in the annual Corpus Christi Procession through the town.

Major celebrations took place in 1975 to mark the 150th anniversary of the convent and the 200th anniversary of the foundation of the Presentation Order. A play about the life of Nano Nagle was staged by the pupils, for which Mary Brophy and Anne Waldron played the part of Nano. Scenery for the show was created by local artist and art teacher May Raleigh, who also presented the convent with a painting showing a group of nuns standing in the rain outside the Senior School entitled ‘Nuns in the Rain’.

A special Mass concelebrated by Bishop John McCormack, with many local priests, took place in the cathedral on November 21 (Presentation Day) and a colour television was presented to Rev Mother Gertrude and the community by the people of the town. There were 20 nuns in the convent in 1975, including several who had been there at the time of the centenary celebrations in 1925, such as Sr Bridget Kavanagh, Sr Joseph Griffith and Sr Brendan Leen.

1975 to 2025

By 1981, there were still 10 teaching nuns on the Presentation staff and some 30 lay teachers, and as nuns retired lay staff took the positions. In 1991, Carmel Hickey was appointed as the first lay principal of the Senior School. Valerie Moore became the first lay principal of the Junior School in 2000.

As the number of nuns fell in the early 1990s, the community decided to sell the convent building and the grounds and move to more suitable accommodation. Local developers Paddy Fagan and Malachy Stephens bought the property in 1994 and the convent was transformed into offices. A new estate, Central Park, was built on the site, and the nuns moved into two houses in the estate from where they continued their work for the schools and the community.

Sr Maureen Waldron worked as curator of the cathedral museum for many years; she won an award for Best Small Museum of the Year in 1992 and welcomed President Mary McAleese to the museum in 1998. Sr Margaret Larkin conducted choirs in the cathedral and her choir took a major part in the Easter Ceremonies televised by RTÉ in 2001. The nuns remained strongly involved in religious education and pupils from Presentation were the first girls to be appointed as altar servers in the parish, in 1995.

In 2000, the schools celebrated the 175th anniversary of the founding of Presentation Convent and School. A Pageant on the life of Nano Nagle was organised by Junior School staff member Alma Manny.

Pupils and staff were also involved that year in the many events celebrating the new Millennium and the Jubilee Year, including pilgrimages to sacred sites around the parish and diocese and the Passion Play staged on the streets of Mullingar.

In the early years of the new century, the schools developed into a mini United Nations as pupils from more than 30 countries were enrolled. Once the Presentation Sisters had gone out across the world; now the world came to them.

The Junior and senior schools began to accept boys following a decision by both the Presentation Schools and St Mary’s CBS to go co-educational. The first male principal was appointed in the Senior School in the 2010s.

In 2014, an era ended when the last two Presentation Sisters left Mullingar. At a special Mass to mark the occasion on Presentation Day, Bishop Michael Smith praised the work of the Presentation nuns in the town since 1825 and noted the sacrifices they had made.

“Spartan would not do justice to the lives they lived, giving all to the objective of offering education to as many children as possible,” he stated.

As the Presentation Schools celebrate the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the first nuns and prepare to enter their third century, the staff and pupils continue to contribute much to the cultural, religious, sporting and social life of Mullingar, as the generations of teachers and pupils did before them and keeping alive the ethos, vision and values of Nano Nagle.

Noteworthy past pupils of the Presentation schools include the following women: Ada English, psychiatrist, politician, university lecturer, 1916 veteran; Josephine Hart, novelist; Ailish Tynan, singer; Mae Behan, singer; Sheila Mullally, fashion designer; Patricia Gibney, writer.

Among the noteworthy boys who started their education in the Presentation Infants School were: Joe Dolan, singer; Pat Layde, actor, writer, singer; Leo Daly, writer, broadcaster, photographer; John Joe Nevin, boxer.