From the Archives

The northeastern Oklahoma town of Vinita had a Catholic presence as early as 1867 due to railroad workers building the Katy (the north-south line) and the Frisco (east -west), and were attended by Jesuits from Missouri. A more solid foundation was attained with the arrival of Father William Ketchem who was based out of Muskogee, but whose parish was basically a quarter of the state.

Bishop Meershaert had recruited a young priest from Belgium named Arthur Versavel during his travels to his home country in 1893. Father Versavel did not arrive with the first Belgian priests, waiting a few months until his ordination. He came to Oklahoma in 1894, first as assistant pastor to Father Ketchem, and then in Vinita in 1895.

Father Ketchem built the first church in Vinita and Father Versavel built the new rectory. The Southwest Courier in the 50th Anniversary edition of the Diocese of Oklahoma City and Tulsa, relates: “…he built a rectory that was the pride of Vinita of that day. It was a five-room house with a bath and curiously enough it was in the shape of a cross. It boasted a real French window in the living room and a fancy front porch.”

He was a young cleric brimming with enthusiasm. In his desire to serve, he was ecstatic about building a school in this correspondence with the bishop: ‘I have succeeded in securing the two lots north of the church for the price of $500.00. It is a great amount deal of money, but the lots are worth a great deal more. …Of the $260.00 I have collected today $200.00 has been donated by Protestants. Moreover, most of them promised me to send their children to the Sisters school.” In the hinterlands, ecumenism was more prevalent as communities urgently needed to bond.

While lounging in the rectory one evening, his bliss was interrupted when a group of inebriated cowboys rode into town shooting at anything that moved. As they rode by, Father Versavel dove under a table as a bullet shattered a lamp where he had been. No doubt this was a harrowing event.

It is not known whether his experience with the Wild West encouraged his departure, but more than likely his contact with the Jesuits in Kansas and Missouri shaped his desire to join the order. Leaving Oklahoma in 1903, he became a Jesuit novice, and by 1908 had been sent to Honduras as a missionary. For 20 years, he ministered to the people there while discovering and exploring several Mayan ruins.

He returned to the United States and spent the last 15 years of his life working among African Americans in Denver and was said to have brought 200 people into the Catholic faith.

Extraordinary men such as Arthur Versavel were not unusual in the early Oklahoma Church. Nor was it unusual for these men to leave and explore other pursuits. 

Of the first four men recruited in 1893 by Bishop Meerschaert, only one stayed in Oklahoma for the rest of his career. Their wanderlust must have led some of them to become missionaries in the first place. When one challenge ceased another must take its place. Their gifts marked the Church and gave it a unique quality.