Vicksburg Catholic School will celebrate 150 years of Catholic Education in Vicksburg, a weekend of special events and activities.

More than two years in the planning, the festivities, set for Friday and next Saturday, honor the contributions of the Religious Sisters of Mercy, founders of the first Catholic school in Vicksburg in 1860 — St. Catherine’s, later changed to St. Francis Xavier Academy — and who also operated a school of nursing here from 1942 to 1967 in conjunction with Mercy Hospital; the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, who opened St. Aloysius College (later St. Aloysius High School) for boys in 1879; and the Sisters of the Holy Spirit, who founded St. Mary’s School for black children in 1906.

Through the years, the schools consolidated and reorganized under the umbrella of Vicksburg Catholic School, which today operates St. Francis Xavier Elementary and St. Aloysius High School.