1903, the Sisters of St. Benedict of St. Walburg's Monastery purchased the eighty-six acre W.C. Collins farm and residence about nine miles from Covington. The Property was named Villa Madonna and placed under the patronage of Our Lady of Good Counsel. In 1916, the novitiate moved from Covington to Villa Madonna, and the motherhouse in 1922. The sisters gather together at regular times to pray the Liturgy of the hours. In 1918, they were dispatched to Covington and rural eastern Kentucky to tend to those suffering from influenza. The Sisters were also involved in nursing, and administering hospitals from 1946 to 1986. In 1947 the sisters took over operation of Mount Mary Hospital in Hazard, Kentucky. In 1977, Sr. Sylvester Shea taught ESL to Vietnamese refugees for Catholic Social Services. Sr. Andrea Collopy served for ten years as a volunteer EMT with the Crescent Springs Fire Department. At its height in the early sixties, the number of sisters was just over 270. In 1921, the Sisters opened Villa Madonna College as a Normal school at Villa Madonna property; in 1929 it became a diocesan teachers college, sharing administration and instruction with the Sisters of Notre Dame, and the Congregation of Divine Providence, and moved to the St. Walburg Academy property in Covington as it was centrally located and on the streetcar line. St. Walburg Academy closed in 1931 to make room for the growing college program. The old St. Walburg Convent on East 12 Street in Covington was used as a convent for the sisters working at St. Joseph School and Villa Madonna College. Villa Madonna College was renamed Thomas More College in 1968 and relocated to its present site in Crestview Hills, Kentucky. That same year, St. Walburg convent and the college building on W 12th St. were demolished. In 2018, it became Thomas More University. Villa Daycare and Villa Montessori School are also located on the 30 acre campus. Villa Madonna Academy Villa Madonna Academy ("VMA") is a private, Roman Catholic K-12 school in Villa Hills, Kentucky. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington and administered by the Benedictine Sisters. Villa Madonna Academy opened in the Collins House, which housed both students and teachers. Ten boarders transferred from St. Walburg Academy in Covington. The cornerstone of the new Academy was laid by Bishop Camillus Paul Maes on March 24, 1906. The Villa Madonna Academy building