Saint Leo Abbey [SEP] religious order
minister to the growing German-immigrant population of the colony. Abbot Leo Haid of Mary, Help of Christians Abbey in Belmont, North Carolina made the arrangements to establish Saint Leo College, now Saint Leo University. On June 4, 1889 both Saint Leo College and the Benedictine mission that would later become Saint Leo Abbey were founded on lands conveyed to the Order of Saint Benedict by Judge Dunne. Saint Leo became an independent priory in 1894 and was elevated to an abbey on September 25, 1902 by Pope Leo XIII.
and church within the diocese.
After the establishment of the Catholic colony of San Antonio and the Parish of St. Anthony of Padua in the early 1880s, the Benedictine monks and nuns who came to Pasco County later in the decade, became another important religious community in the history of the diocese. Based at Saint Leo Abbey and Holy Name Priory respectively, they founded, and staffed for many years, most of the parishes of Pasco, Hernando and Citrus Counties. Other early pioneer Religious include the Sisters of the Holy Names