Honora (Nano) Nagle

Place: Ballygriffin

Born: 1718

Death: 1784

Biography:

Nano Nagle was born in 1718 in Ballygriffin, County Cork. She was the eldest of six children born to Garrett and Ann Mathew Nagle. In eighteenth century Ireland, under the Penal Laws, Catholics were denied economic, educational, and political rights, and the position of the Nagle family as Catholic landowners was particularly precarious. Despite a ban on the foreign education of Irish Catholics, Nano was sent to France to complete her education. Upon her return to Ireland in 1746, Nagle worked to educate the poor of Cork city. A deeply religious woman, her profound trust in God's providence was fundamental to her ministry. By 1769, Nagle, with financial support from her uncle, Joseph Nagle, had opened seven schools, including two for boys, in Cork.