In 1897, Sacred Heart Institute or Academy was built with funds furnished by Mother Katharine Drexel of Philadelphia.  It opened with an enrollment of 30 pupils, and was staffed by the Benedictine Sisters of Shoal Creek, Arkansas.  The land and school were deeded by the Cherokee indians to the sisters as an inducement to assume responsibility for the isolated mission school.

The sisters of Mount Carmel, New Orleans, Louisiana operated the school from 1899 - 1903.  By 1903, there were 106 students.  The nuns who staffed the school in the early days came from France, Germany and Ireland.  They brought some of their own cultures, believed in rigid discipline, and stressed obedience.

Sacred Heart Academy was a co-ed school, with facilities for boarding girls. Out of town boys boarded in private local homes. Tuition was $30 a month, including room and board.  Classes were held from kindergarden through the twelfth grade. 
 

The academic day for high school included literature, Latin, Spanish and French.  Business courses offered typing, bookkeeping, shorthand, business arithmetic, business English and business spelling.  Music classes offered piano, violin, trombone, accordian, and harp.  There was a school orchestra, glee clubs, and boys and girls basketball.

In 1904, the Sisters of the Divine Providence of San Antonio assumed charge and continued its operation until 1967, at which time the school was closed.  The property was purchased by Holy Ghost Catholic Church, and the school building was demolished.  The Sacred Heart Academy gymnasium (on the far right in the photo above) was converted into today's parish hall.  The floor of the parish hall is the original basketball court.

Holy Ghost's original church donor(s) are not known, but the bronze bell hanging in its steeple was inscribed "Cherokees to the Catholic Church at Vinita, I.T. 1895".

Holy Ghost Parish, which is older than Vinita itself, is one of the first of Vinita's nearly 30 churches.  The Parish was founded sometime before 1867.  Records indicate the first Baptism took place on August 7, 1867; deaths are recorded as early as 1881.  It has been noted in an historical account written by Rev. T. F. Kramer that Frank Sheehan, a section foreman for the Frisco railroad, hosted the visiting priests who offered Mass in his home for the parishoners.

Constructed in 1894 and dedicated in 1895, Rev. W. H. Ketcham was successful in building a small mission church which cost about $1,500.  The original church building served our parishioners until 1953.

The Vinita priests also took care of missions attached to Holy Ghost Church.  Those missions included Quapaw, Miami, Welch, Claremore, Centralia, Lenapah, Cayuga, Fairland and Spavinaw.   Today the parish covers all of Craig County, except the northern part which belongs to St. Ann parish in Welch.

1895 - 1902  Rev. Arthur F. Versavel                                           
1900 - 1901  Rev. Maurice D'Haenens                                         
1903 - 1917  Rev. Charles Van Hulse                                           
1917 - 1923  Rev. John F. Davlin                                                 
1923 - 1925  Rev. Francis D. McCreedy                                       
1925 - 1947  Rev. Titus F. Kramer, C.PP.S.                                 
1936             Rev. Samual Homsey, C.PP.S.                               
1939             Rev. Leonard Sudhoff, C.PP.S.                               
1949             Rev. Cyril Kennedy, C.PP.S.                                   
1947 - 1955  Rev. Rupert Landoll, C.PP.S.                                   
1955 - 1956  Rev. Cornelius Fenton, C.PP.S.                               
1955 - 1965  Rev. Joseph A. Biegler, C.PP.S.                              
1956 - 1957  Rev. Leonard Burghart, C.PP.S.                             
1957 - 1958  Rev. Samuel Homsey, C.PP.S.                               
1958 - 1959  Rev. William Shields, C.PP.S.                                 
1959             Rev. Joseph Anthamattan, C.PP.S.
1959 - 1960  Rev. William Schenk, C.PP.S.
1960             Rev. Emil Dinkel, C.PP.S.
1960             Rev. George Fey, C.PP.S.
1960 - 1961  Rev. Joseph Grilliot, C.PP.S.
1961 - 1963  Rev. Harold Brown, C.PP.S.
1963 - 1964  Rev. Russel Friedrichsen, C.PP.S.
1964 - 1971  Rev. Paul Becquet, C.PP.S.
1965 - 1976  Rev. Benedict J. D'Angelo
1976 - 1983  Rev. George W. Heinzen, C.PP.S.
1983 - 1992  Rev. Leo  A. Brand, C.PP.S.
1992 - 1995  Rev. Henry Broyles
1995 - 1998  Rev. Paul Eichoff
1998 - 2012  Rev. Alex Kennedy
2012 -  Present   Rev. Michael E. Cashen
 

C.PP.S.:  The Missionaries of the Precious Blood form a community of priests and brothers within the Roman Catholic Church. The Society was founded by St. Gaspar del Bufalo in 1815. The Missionaries of the Precious Blood is a shortened English translation of the Latin "Congregatio Missionariorum Pretiosissimi Sanguinis Domini Nostri Jesu Christi," (The Congregation of Missionaries of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ). Priests and brothers use the initials C.PP.S. after their names.