Sisters of the Presentation of Mary - Province of Manchester |
An International Congregation
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WHERE WE ARE |
Click on the map for more information regarding a country: foundation, map, history, web site etc. |
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On the world map above click on the name of a country to reach it quickly.
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"My daughters will one day cross the seas..." Marie Rivier |
An
international Congregation, the Sisters of the Presentation of
Mary Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America.
To view the map and other pertinent and general information regarding each country click on Map of each country
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France | 1796 | On November 21, 1796,
feast of the Presentation of Mary at the Temple, Marie Rivier and four
of her companions had the incredible audacity to found a community in
the midst of the French Revolution, in the small village of Thueyts,
Ardèche, France.
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Switzerland | 1841 | In 1841, three years after the death of Marie Rivier, her daughters realized one of her dreams to establish a foundation in Lausanne, Switzerland.
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Canada | 1853 | At the request of Msgr. Prince, Bishop of
Saint Hyacinth, Quebec, Sr. St. Maurice and five companions arrive in
the New World. Sainte-Marie de Monnoir (later incorporated as Marieville)
becomes their first
mission. |
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United States
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1873 | On November 18, 1873, at the invitation of the pastor, Father Huberdault, five sisters left Saint Hyacinth, Qc for Glens Falls NY to take charge of his school. In July 1879, they were recalled because of illness and the convent was closed. In 1886, encouraged by his Bishop Mgr. Louis de Goesbriand, Father Trottier invited the sisters to open a school in his parish in Island Pond VT. This was the first permanent mission in the USA.
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England | 1896 | At the end of the 19th Century, fear of a
civil war and the dispersion of religious orders in France forced our
sisters to look to England as a safety net for the Congregation.
At the invitation of the Basilian Fathers they came to Exeter and March
31, 1896 established the first permanent foundation at Palace Gate.
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Spain | 1902 | The Decree of Expulsion of 1902 forced the
Congregation to look to other countries where the sisters could continue
to teach as women religious. Thus, the first mission in Spain
opened in Peñarraya November 12, 1902.
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Italy | 1904 | At the beginning of the 20th Century the
Congregation was already becoming international. Italy was the next
country to welcome the sisters expulsed from France. September 28,
1904 marked the arrival of two sisters at a rented villa in
Port-Maurice. This was to be the first foundation in this
country. In 1915, at the beginning of WW I, Villa Loreto in
Bordighera received its first resident students. In 1967, the general
Administration of the Congregation settled in Villa Arte in
Castelgandolfo.
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Madeira Islands |
1925 | Sister Marie de la Sainte Trinité, a native
of Madeira, became the first Portuguese Sister of the Presentation of
Mary. She opened the first mission of the Province of Portugal
March 1, 1925 at the Lactario (Help to poor children). The College
of the Presentation of Mary opened in 1926, as did several schools in
subsequent years.
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Portugal | 1938 | On the continent, in 1938 at the request of
Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon, Sr. Marie de la Sainte Trinité opened a
boarding school in Sétubal for poor and abandoned girls. She also
established most of the Congregation's ministries in Portugal: schools,
boarding schools, foyers, social centers. novitiate (1941), House of
Prayer at Fatima, and involvement in parish pastoral ministry.
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Mozambique | 1941 | In 1941 at the invitation of Msgr. Teodosio
de Gouveia, archbishop of Lourenço Marques, Sister du Coeur de Jésus,
sister of Sr. Marie de la Sainte Trinité founded with six Portuguese
sisters, the Collège Dom Antonio Barroso, in Lourenço Marques now
known as Maputo-Mozambique. Other schools and missions were
founded in north and south Mozambique. In 1956 Mozambique became a
Region.
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Japan | 1948 |
Before the Pacific War, Monsignor Tagushi, Archbishop of Osaka, asked Mother St. Paul, Provincial of Saint Hyacinthe, to send sisters to teach in his diocese in Japan. This wish was finally realized after the war in 1948. The first sisters came from St. Hyacinthe, Quebec and opened a high school in Himeji in 1951.
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Philippines | 1950 | In the spring of 1950, Fr. Dion, OMI, and his
companion, Father Emile Laquerre, OMI, invited the Sisters of the
Presentation, from the Hudson province in the United States, to work
with him in Siasi among the Muslims. Mother St. Jeanne-de-Valois,
Provincial Superior, in response to Pope Pius XII's request that
religious congregations send missionaries to mission lands, accepted the
invitation. Sisters St. Pauline, M. Laurentienne, St. Nathalie,
and St. Marie des Anges were chosen to minister to the people of
Siasi. On October 26, 1950, the four new missionaries arrived in
Siasi, Sulu with hearts filled with joy and gratitude.
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Senegal | 1952 | In 1952 at the request to Msgr. Dodds,
Apostolic Prefect of Ziguinchor, four sisters: two French, one Canadian,
and one Portuguese left for Bignona (Casamance). They took
the responsibility of a primary school, of Catholic Action movements and
teaching catechesis in French and English. In following years they
founded in Elana and Balandine, two villages where they opened a
dispensary. They radiate out to 30 villages of the area.
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Ireland | 1963 |
In the summer of 1961, at the request of Mother
St. Jeanne d'Arc, Superior General, Sr. Jeanne Touchette was asked to
establish a foundation in Ireland. Two years later, the search for
a place to establish a convent and a school came to fruition when Sr.
Jeanne and Sr. St. Columban (Agnes Kelly) originally from Ireland opened
the first Presentation of Mary Convent in Castleblakeney, Ireland.
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Peru | 1963 | After Vatican II, the Oblate
Fathers of the Canadian Province, responding to the call of Rome, asked
the Sisters of the Presentation to found a Technical School for girls in
a poor area of Lima, Peru. On September 13, 1963 five sisters from the province
of Sherbrooke arrived in Peru. The school opened in Comas in March
1964 with 50 girls. Presently, approximately 1700 students attend
this school.
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Gambia | 1968 | In October 1968, at the invitation of Msgr.
Michael Maloney, Bishop of Gambia, two sisters: Sr. Louise Brachotte and
Sr. Fernande Lasnier founded the mission of Serrekunda: which includes
23 villages where they worked as pastoral ministers in large
parishes. It was to Sr. Louise Brachotte that Mother St. Jeanne
d'Arc confided the responsibility of the mission from its foundation
until the nomination of a regional superior. Gambia and Senegal
became a region known as Sénégambie.
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Brazil | 1986 | In 1980, Sister Cecilia Silva, a seasoned
missionary from Mozambique, is invited to Brazil to help the foundation
of the "Villages of Peace," a project which had been founded
to come to the needs of the street children. The Congregation accepted
the challenge and sent her with Sister du Sacré Coeur de Jésus,
Hardy. After supporting this project for six years, the first
community of the Presentation was established in Abadiania, in the
diocese of Anapolis at the request of the Bishop of the Diocese, Msgr.
Manoel Pestana Filho.
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Cameroon | 1989 | Knowing that his bishop wished to
have Sisters in his diocese, Father Loiseau, OMI, turned to the Sisters
of the Presentation of Mary. After months of discernment, the
foundation is accepted and the first Sisters: Jacqueline Guité,
Lise Thibodeau, Margaret Camiré left for Atta on January 27,
1989. They began by establishing a primary school, a center for
the formation of women, and various ministries.
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Ecuador | 1996 | To respond to a request of the General Chapter of 1993 “let us dare to found" the Province of Spain, faithful to its missionary charism, decided to found in Latin America, in a country as close to Peru as possible. At this time the bishop of the diocese of Machal, M. Néstor Herrera and the bishop of the diocese of Babahoyo, M. Jesús Ramó Martínez de Ezquerecocha , while visiting Rome, went to Castelgandolfo to request Sisters for their missions. After discussion and discernment the decision was made in favor of the diocese of Babahoyo, in the zone of Los Rios, in the area of Vinces. In November 1996, the first two Sisters arrived: Sr. Maria Soldead Sáez de Ibarra and Sr. María Luisa Balcuende. In February 1997, Sr. Dionisia Ruía joined them. Their work of evangelization and the gift of themselves to the needy are evident in the pastoral ministry of the parish, the dispensary and the promotion of women. | ||
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