Saint Leo Abbey
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Saint Leo Abbey
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Entrance to the abbey church on Saint Leo University campus
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| Location | St. Leo, Florida |
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| Coordinates | 28°20′14″N 82°15′36″W / 28.33722°N 82.26000°WCoordinates: 28°20′14″N 82°15′36″W / 28.33722°N 82.26000°W |
| Area | 100 acres (0.40 km2) |
| Architectural style | Italian Romanesque |
| NRHP Reference # | 97001637 |
| Added to NRHP | January 7, 1998 |
Saint Leo Abbey is a Benedictine monastery located in Saint Leo, Florida, United States.
Saint Leo Abbey, located in Pasco County, Florida, traces its beginnings to 1882 when Judge Edmund F. Dunne founded the Catholic Colony of San Antonio. Sent by Archabbot Boniface Wimmer, Father Gerard Pilz, O.S.B., arrived in 1886 as the first Benedictine in Florida. He was dispatched to Florida in response to a request by Bishop John Moore of St. Augustine for a German-speaking priest to 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.
In addition to providing priests for the churches of the Catholic Colony, the monks went on to establish Catholic parishes in not only nearby Dade City, but also Zephyrhills, New Port Richey, Brooksville Crystal River and Ocala. They even established parishes as far away as Farmingdale, NY and Cuba. In the early part of the 20th Century St. Leo's Benedictines monks could be found in churches and missions throughout the northern half of peninsular Florida. Saint Leo Abbey also sent missionaries to Argentina in the second half of the 20th century. St. Leo continued to supply priests for Catholic congregations throughout Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties until the last decade of the 20th Century.
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