section_path: Provinces/United States/Province of St. Thomas of Villanova
section_name: Province of St. Thomas of Villanova
paragraph_text: Province of St. Thomas of Villanova
  
  The North American foundation of the Order took place in 1796, when Irish friars arrived in Philadelphia, and founded Olde St. Augustine's Church in Philadelphia. Michael Hurley was the first American to join the Order, the following year. In May 1844 anti-Catholic rioters burned the Church of Saint Augustine to the ground, together with the friary.
  
  The province increased in the end of the 19th century as the Augustinians were driven out of many European countries, and in 1848 sought refuge in the USA. The Province of St. Thomas of Villanova was established in 1874. The Novitiate of Our Mother of Good Counsel Priory in New Hamburg, New York was canonically established on 23 July 1925 on the 200 acre estate of Isaac Untermyer. The location on the Hudson River was considered ideal for prayer, inner reflection, and vocational discernment. It remained in use for more than 50 years. But, as the number of men considering the religious declined, the Novitiate moved to New York, New York, then to Lawrence, Massachusetts, to Racine, Wisconsin, and to its current location at the intersection of Upper Gulph Road and County Line Road in Wayne, Pennsylvania in the former home of the Colleran Family.
  
  When four Sisters of St Rita, a community aggregated to the Augustines, completed their missionary assignment in Bolivia, they found they could not return to Germany due to the impending outbreak of World War II. Instead, they went to the novitiate to work for the priests and seminarians. They later continued this ministry in Racine.
  
  Villanova University in Pennsylvania was founded in 1842; Merrimack College in Massachusetts in 1947. The following high schools were also established: Malvern Preparatory School in Pennsylvania (1842); Augustinian Academy, Staten Island, NY (1899 – closed in 1969). Cascia Hall Preparatory School in Tulsa, Oklahoma (1926); Monsignor Bonner High School in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania (1953); Archbishop John Carroll High School (1958), Washington, DC; St. Augustine College Preparatory School in Richland, New Jersey (1959); Austin Preparatory School in Reading, Massachusetts (1961).
  
  As of 2014, the province had 174 professed members, living in 27 communities in the U.S., and 5 in Japan.