[6] St. Gregory's traced its roots to the Sacred Heart Mission,[7] founded in Atoka, Oklahoma on October 12, 1875 by the Benedictine monks Father Isidore Robot, O.S.B., and Brother Dominic Lambert, O.S.B.

After a disastrous fire in 1901 that destroyed the school and the monastery, the monks accepted an offer from the town of Shawnee and began construction of the Catholic University of Oklahoma and St. Gregory's Abbey in 1910.

Timberlake Construction and Advanced Masonry, both of Oklahoma City, were charged with the task of rebuilding the turrets – this time with steel "bones" that could withstand an earthquake.

The brick was matched to the rest of the building, and the grotesques and shields that were part of the original gothic architecture were molded in the exact image of their predecessors.

[10] The board of directors voted to close the university at the end of the 2017 fall semester following an unsuccessful loan application to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Students in the College of Arts and Sciences were provided with a solid foundation in the liberal arts through a common core curriculum, the heart of which was the four-semester "Tradition and Conversation" program, which offered students the opportunity to engage some of the greatest minds and discuss some of most influential texts of the Western and Catholic intellectual traditions in a seminar format.

The College of Continuing Studies was located in two cities – Shawnee and Tulsa – and offered accelerated, evening degree programs at the associates, bachelors and masters levels.

[12] St. Gregory’s Abbey and College is on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma.

Its collection includes ancient Egyptian, medieval, Renaissance, and Hudson River School art.