250 years since a North Cork woman changed the world w/ Sister Sharon Fagan

So we mentioned that it's a very special year.

It is a very special year.

As I said, it's 250 years since Nano founded the congregation.

And so around the world, a lot of people are celebrating it.

The schools, parishes, the sisters themselves.

We ourselves had a wonderful launch here in Cork in Nano Negro Place back in December.

to launch it, and it was live-streamed all around the world, which was a wonderful celebration.

And we've also had, in Kullavallen, where Nano's beginnings were in the parish there, we celebrated as well.

And then throughout the world, as I said, so many celebrations are happening.

One of the things that I've noticed about it is how many wonderful volunteers have come out to celebrate with us, have helped us to prepare for these moments.

Yeah.

And the children in the schools, how they have so captured the spirit of Nano.

They can tell you the story, they've done plays, they've made songs.

There's a very, I guess, alive world out there that knows more about Nano than when I was a child.

But I think her story is a very contemporary one.

There's a relevance in it that I think that children and young teachers can identify with.

Maybe in a way they... find it harder to identify with some of the more obscure characters from the past.

There's something about Nano's story that's very authentic and very modern.

Yes, exactly.

I think Nano's story, children are captured by her story, I think, and especially knowing that Nano had such a love for children, you know, and that's been passed on to the teachers, I think, that she was that kind of an influence on education.

And also, I think that amongst the teachers themselves, I think they've also seen the great contribution that she made, you know, to education and how it spread throughout the world.

And the other thing I think that is also is not only is Nano remembered for her education piece, which is really important, but she was also known as the lady with the lantern who carried the lantern at nighttime and went to visit the homes.

And she was a very compassionate woman towards the elderly and the sick.

And And wanted to find, she had a dream for more things in her life, which she didn't live to do.

You know, she wanted to find a home for destitute women.