Shortly after the founding of Garsten Abbey, in the first quarter of the 12th century, the Benedictine Abbey of Gleink emerged from the Bamberg fiefdom of Glunich. The founders, Arnhalm I and his son Bruno, from the ministerial Gleink-Volkersdorf family, whose employers, the Styrian Otakars, co-founded the abbey, had the fortress converted into a monastery. The monastery complex, dedicated to the Apostle Andrew, already existed around 1120.
The Romanesque monastery building was damaged by fire in the 13th century.
In the first half of the 17th century, primarily due to looting during the Peasants' War of 1626, the monastery fell into dire straits. Under the following abbots, the great Baroque building period also began for Gleink.
As part of the church reforms, Gleink was secularized on May 21, 1784. Parish pastoral care in Gleink was taken over by secular priests, and the monastery buildings were temporarily used as barracks. The bishops of the Diocese of Linz then happily used Gleink as a summer residence.
In 1832, the Salesian Sisters came to Gleink from Vienna. At its peak, their monastery numbered up to 70 sisters. From around 1950 onwards, there were no new enrollments, and in 1977, it was finally dissolved.
In 1950, the Order of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart took over parish pastoral care and, until 1990, also operated a Caritas home, a feared reformatory for boys.
Since 2022, the monastery building has served as the "cultural GUT storage" of the Diocese of Linz. The external depot of the Diocesan Archives houses archival materials from the parishes as well as the art and furniture depot with over 2,000 works of art and furniture.