Church Ties With Native Americans Developed in 1870s Led to Creation of Sacred Heart Abbey
Benedictine Monks Planted First Seeds of Catholic Faith
Sacred Heart Abbey and School at Konawa, before the fire of 1901.

The history of Sacred Heart/St. Gregory’s Abbey can be traced back to Columbus Day, October 12, 1875, when Benedictine Fr. Isidore Robot and Br. Dominic Lambert arrived in Atoka, Indian Territory.  

Their long journey began at St. Mary’s Abbey of Pierre-Qui-Vire near Avallon, France. Fr. Isidore and Br. Dominic, monks of Pierre-Qui-Vire, responded to a call for monks to help in the New Orleans area, only to discover on arrival that there was no work for them. Eventually they were sent to Indian Territory, which had no resident clergy. In the fall of 1876, their travels brought them to Atoka to the only Catholic Church in the territory, and they made an agreement with the Citizen Band Potawatomie Nation for some land near Konawa to build their monastery and start a day school. Soon monks from France arrived to help Fr. Isidore, and they began their monastic observance on the eve of the Feast of the Sacred Heart, June 7, 1877. Since Sacred Heart monastery was a member of the Congregation of Primitive Obser-vance, they strove to follow the Rule of St. Benedict in all its details, a special challenge in the rigors of the American frontier.

Fr. Isidore, the Prefect Apostolic of Indian Territory, along with other monks, began touring Indian Territory to spread the Gospel and find other Catholics. Although many of the Osage were Catholic, the Indian Agent would not allow Robot to found a church there - an example of the competition among the various denominations for exclusive rights to evangelize the Native American tribes.  

The 1880’s and 1890’s were busy times. Six Benedictine sisters arrived in 1880 to operate a girls’ school - the Sisters of Mercy took over its operation four years later. The Abbey began its own seminary program for the young men entering the monastery, the start of Sacred Heart College.

In 1891, the Belgian Theophile Meerscharert was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Oklahoma in 1891 and would later become the first diocesan bishop of the new diocese of Oklahoma in 1905. This created tension because many monks expected to continue in the leadership of the developing church in Oklahoma.

Sacred Heart continued to grow until January 15, 1901 when a fire destroyed almost all its buildings. The schools closed and the monks and students scattered, but the monks were determined to rebuild. The Sisters of Mercy, assisted by Sister Katherine Drexel, rebuilt their ministry as St. Mary’s Academy.

Many of the early monks were Basque, and in 1905 the Bishop of Los Angeles requested priests to minister to Basque communities. Two monks from Sacred Heart were sent to California in 1905, founded a parish in 1906 in Montebello, and built a monastery in 1912.  Although the monastery did not last, the Oklahoma Benedictines continued to minister in the Los Angeles area until 1998.

Back in Oklahoma: After the 1901 fire, the monks considered moving the monastery and schools to Oklahoma City, Shawnee, or even to Quebec, Canada. Eventually Shawnee was chosen and the monks devoted their money and energies to building the college and monastery. The process of acquiring land, erecting the new building, and moving to Shawnee took from 1902 to 1913, and the cornerstone of the university was laid on May 4, 1913.

In 1922 a crisis was developing. Through death and departure, the numbers in the community were shrinking. There were 35 monk-priests officially at this time, 10 at Sacred Heart, nine at Shawnee, eight in California, and eight in various Oklahoma parishes. In addition, nationalism was a growing cause of division; there were no more monks arriving from France; and the ecclesiastical superiors were thousands of miles away in Europe.

 In August, 1923, the monastery transferred from the Congregation of the Primitive Observance to the American Cassinese Congregation, providing more immediate contact with other monasteries. An early result of the transfer was personnel from St. John’s Abbey in Minnesota. During this time the Abbey was transferred from Sacred Heart to Shawnee, under the patronage of St. Gregory the Great. Mark Braun from St. John’s Abbey was appointed abbot of St. Gregory’s in 1932 and thus began a renaissance of the community. New members arrived; the community worked very hard to keep the school operating; and the priests went out on weekends to assist in Oklahoma parishes.

The community continued to grow into the 1960’s, and reached a maximum membership of around 80 monks. Since then there has been the decline that many religious communities have experienced.  

Gradually the abbey has ceased being responsible for parishes, but the educational activity has increased along with the growth of Saint Gregory’s University.

The 130-year history of Sacred Heart/St. Gregory’s Abbey has been as lively as one could wish, as they served one another and the people of Oklahoma through pastoral and educational ministries. This history of the Benedictine Monks of Sacred Heart Abbey and St. Gregory’s Abbey is based mainly on Fr. Joseph Murphy, OSB’s centennial history Tenacious Monks and other sources from the Archives of St. Gregory’s Abbey.

 
Top: The front of the priory of Sacred Heart Abbey in 1945. Bottom: Bishop Meershaert and the
Monks of Sacred Heart Abbey after the blessing of the new Abbot Bernard Murphy, April 13, 1905.

For more information and photos  about Sacred Heart Abbey visit the Saint Gregory Abbey web site  http://www.monksok.org and click  the link Photo Essay: Images of Sacred Heart. You can also learn more about the history and the latest happenings at Saint Gregory Abbey on their web site.