Saint Leo University is a private, non-profit, Roman Catholic liberal arts university established in 1889/ 1959 and located in Saint Leo, Florida, 35 miles north of Tampa. The University is associated with the Holy Name Monastery, a Benedictine convent, and Saint Leo Abbey, a Benedictine monastery. The university and the abbey are both named in honor of Pope Leo the Great, who is recognized by Catholics as both a saint and as one of the most outstanding leaders in the history of the Church. The oldest Catholic college in Florida, and the sixth-largest in the United States, Saint Leo University was one of the first American universities to provide distance learning opportunities to students, beginning to educate military men and women in 1973 during the Vietnam era at the height of the anti-war movement.