Founding and early history
The foundation of the academy dates to July, 1872. At that time, the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary transferred their motherhouse, novitiate, and boarding school from Reading to West Chester, PA. Occupying the property formerly owned by the Pennsylvania Military Academy, the school flourished in West Chester until 1914, when Villa Maria moved to Immaculata College, which today houses the retired sisters.
In 1924, the Sisters acquired the property of William R. Warner, Jr. in Green Tree, where the high school remains today. May 5, 1925 marked the opening of Villa Maria at Green Tree. Regina Mundi Hall was constructed in 1955, and had many later additions and expansions.
In 1979, Villa Maria Lower School, grades K-8, was moved to a wing of the House of Studies at Immaculata. At this time the high school acquired St. Joseph Hall, which had been built in 1965. In 1985, plans were undertaken to build the Marian Center, an Arts/Athletic complex. The Athletic Center, Phase 1 of the total project, opened in December, 1987. Phase Two was completed in May, 1997; new soccer/lacrosse, softball, and hockey fields, an all-weather track, and five tennis courts were also constructed. In the early 2000s, other renovations and expansions were completed, which included an addition to St. Joseph's Hall, renovation of the cafeteria in Regina Mundi, and campus security measures.
Campus
Villa Maria's 44-acre (180,000 m2) campus includes two academic buildings (Regina Mundi and St. Joseph's Hall), another building with the gymnasium and a connected auditorium (Marian Center), and the Theresa Maxis Student Union, opened in summer, 2022. The student union houses the Holloway Dining Hall, Parsons Chapel, counseling, nursing, activities, and administrative offices. In 2015, the Maurene Polley turf field was built in honor of the legacy of the former field hockey coach of 43 years, National Field Hockey Coaches Hall of Fame, and athletics director. [2]
Villa Maria is a relatively small school, with a staff of 62 (including both religious and laypeople) and 400-450 students. It offers college-prep, honors, and Advanced Placement (AP) courses, a Scholars Program, and a Senior Capstone Program.
Immaculata University is a private Roman Catholic university in East Whiteland Township, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Archbishop Wood Catholic High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school within the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The school was founded in 1964 in Warminster Township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It sits on thirty-two acre tract of land and maintains various athletic fields on its campus, as well as a daycare facility, and a home for retired diocesan priests. It is accredited by both the National Catholic Educational Association and Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.
The Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (I.H.M.) is a Catholic religious institute of sisters, founded in 1845 by Fr. Louis Florent Gillet, CSsR, and Mother Theresa Maxis Duchemin, a co-founder of the Oblate Sister of Providence.
Immaculata High School is a private, coeducational, Roman Catholic high school in Somerville, in Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Founded in 1962, Immaculata High School operates within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Metuchen. The school was also served by a group of Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who lived in a convent attached to the main building of the school. Many of the Sisters taught different subjects in the school's curriculum. Immaculata High School has been accredited by Cognia since 2012.
Cathedral Preparatory School is a private, Roman Catholic, college-preparatory high school for girls and boys in Erie, Pennsylvania, United States. It was established in 1921 by Archbishop John Mark Gannon and is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Erie.
Marywood University is a private Catholic university in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Established in 1915 by the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Marywood currently enrolls more than 2,800 students in a variety of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs. The university has a national arboretum with more than 100 types of trees and shrubs.
Father Judge High School is a Roman Catholic high school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Oblates of St. Francis de Sales provide ministerial leadership to the school community, which the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia established in 1954.
St. Mary's Ryken High School, located on an 87-acre (350,000 m2) waterfront campus on Breton Bay, is a coeducational, secondary school sponsored by the Xaverian Brothers. SMR is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools and is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, and recognized as an independent, Catholic school by the Archdiocese of Washington and the Maryland State Department of Education.
Rosemont College is a private Catholic university in Rosemont, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1921 as a women's college by the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus, the undergraduate program opened to male students beginning in fall 2009. The university is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). Rosemont also offers a range of master's degrees through its school of graduate studies and school of professional studies.
Bishop Shanahan High School is a coeducational Catholic secondary school of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, located in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. The school is named after Right Rev. John W. Shanahan, the third bishop of the Diocese of Harrisburg, and is the only archdiocesan secondary school in Chester County. The school originally opened in 1957 in West Chester, and moved to its current campus in Downingtown in 1998.
The Immaculata Seminary Historic District, commonly known as Tenley Campus, is an 8.2-acre (3.3 ha) parcel of land, located off of Tenley Circle in the Northwest Washington, D.C. neighborhood of Tenleytown. The site of Dunblane, an early to mid-nineteenth-century Federal/Greek Revival-style manor house, it was once part of a large country estate on the outskirts of the capital city, owned by a succession of prominent Georgetown residents. From 1904 to 1906, the land was acquired by the Catholic Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, who, for decades, operated all-girls primary, secondary, and postsecondary schools there under the Immaculata name, before being forced to shutter due to financial issues. Since 1986, it has been a satellite campus of American University, which purchased the site in part because of its proximity to Tenleytown station on the Red Line of the Washington Metro. It currently houses the school's Washington College of Law.
Immaculata-La Salle High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, Florida. It is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami and located between Mercy Hospital and Vizcaya on South Bayshore Drive.
Lebanon Catholic School was a private, Roman Catholic high school in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, United States. It was located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg. It closed in 2020.
Marian Catholic High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown. It was established in 1954 after the consolidation of St. Jerome's High School in Tamaqua, St. Mary's High School in Coaldale, and St. Ann's High School in Lansford. Its original location consisted of a three town campus located in the towns of Tamaqua, Coaldale, and Lansford. Marian Catholic's current campus was constructed on farmland in Rush Township in 1964.
Villa Joseph Marie High School is a private Roman Catholic all-girls high school in Holland, Pennsylvania.
The Mary Louis Academy, also known as TMLA, is an all-girls private Catholic college-preparatory academy, located in Jamaica Estates, Queens, New York City. TMLA's 5-acre (20,000 m2) campus encompasses eight buildings situated on private grounds at the top of one of the highest hills in Queens, hence TMLA's interscholastic nickname "The Hilltoppers".
Catholic Marian movements and societies have developed from the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary by members of the Catholic Church. These societies form part of the fabric of Mariology in the Catholic Church. Popular membership in Marian organizations grew significantly in the 20th century, as apparitions such as Our Lady of Fátima gave rise to societies with millions of members, and today many Marian societies exist around the world. This article reviews the major Marian movements and organizations.
The West Chester Golden Rams represent West Chester University of Pennsylvania, which is located in West Chester, Pennsylvania, in intercollegiate sports. They compete in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) in NCAA Division II.
