History in California

With the California Gold Rush (1849) came the settlers, with the settlers came the immigrants, and with the immigrants came the Sisters of the Presentation. In 1854, the Sisters of the Presentation arrived in San Francisco, California to minister to the children of miners, immigrants, and the poor.

Four Sisters from Midleton, County Cork, and one Sister from Kilkenny, Ireland in San Francisco, established the first United States foundation in 1854. Within a year, three of the five Sisters returned to Ireland and the remaining two Sisters established the Presentation Convent on Powell Street where they conducted a school for girls. From 1857 to 1869, the sisters also had a school for black and Indian students. In 1869 Sacred Heart Presentation Convent was established at Taylor and Ellis Streets, in San Francisco. This foundation was followed in 1878 by St. Joseph Convent, Berkeley and in 1882 St. Joseph Convent, Sonoma. The four houses were amalgamated in 1888.

The 1906 Earthquake and Fire destroyed the two convents in San Francisco. The Sisters lived in various residences until Presentation Convent located at 281 Masonic Avenue was completed in 1912. They moved from this location to 2340 Turk Boulevard in 1970 when the new Motherhouse was completed. Through the years, the sisters stayed in education and later focused on pastoral ministry and social work.

Our primary mission is to the poor, which we manifest through a variety of ministries as fulfilled by our foundress Nano Nagle. Presentation women are committed to serving the poor in the ministries of education, parish ministry, community organizing, pastoral care in hospitals, nursing, literacy programs, foreign missions, immigration work, spiritual direction, retreat work, Safe House for women wanting to escape prostitution, and housing management for the elderly.

Presentation Sisters currently serve in the Archdioceses of San Francisco and Los Angeles; and the Dioceses of Oakland, Orange, San Jose, Santa Rosa, and Guatemala.

Currently, we are 133 Sisters who live in small group residences, apartments, parish convents, and our Motherhouse, which provides special care for our elderly and infirm sisters.

Mother Teresa Comerford

Sister Mary Teresa Comerford originally was not intended to accompany the pioneer group of Presentation Sisters to San Francisco. As the group of five awaited their departure, one of them became too ill to travel. Sister Mary Teresa was selected to take the sick Sister's place. Sister Rose Forest, PBVM, recounts in her manuscript With Hearts of Oak, a history of the Presentation Sisters' founding in California, the reason for this decision was that she showed "aspirations towards a foreign mission career."

The four Sisters to arrive in San Francisco with Sister Mary Teresa were Sister Mary Joseph Cronin, the originally appointed Superior; Sister Mary Xavier Daly, Assistant to the Superior; Sister Mary Augustine Keane, Bursar; and Sister Mary Clare Duggan. Sister Mary Teresa, while not the founding Mother, became the second Mother Superior for the California group of November 8, 1855. Mother Comerford, as she was then called, spearheaded the early survival and growth of the Sisters of the Presentation. According to Sister Rose's account, Mother Comerford was elected Superior because she was "a lady of captivating personality, refined and highly educated, had an exceptional gift for making friends, and so of gaining the patronage of the cultured elite."

These resourceful attributions helped towards the establishment of schools offering free education to the poor. Sister Rose emphasizes, "early growth and development (of the Sisters of the Presentation in San Francisco) must be largely credited to Mother Mary Teresa."

For more information regarding the Sisters of the Presentation history in California, visit the Archives.