 In 1913, the Congregation of Saint Cecilia was formally affiliated with the Dominicans, and in 1915 they established a link with the Catholic University of America to properly certify their Sister-teachers.The community prospered to such an extent that, just before the onset of the Great Depression, it was able to purchase prime Nashville land that would later become the site of Aquinas College, Overbrook School and St. Cecilia Academy.In 1935, when the Congregation celebrated its 75th anniversary in the midst of the Great Depression, the Sisters had established or begun to operate schools throughout Tennessee as well as in Illinois, Ohio and Virginia.