St. Augustine, Florida, being a small city have a lot of “firsts” to its credit. It had been the first permanent European settlement in which is has now been the United States. It was the site of the first Mass in the U.S. It is the place where the first shrine to Our Lady had been erected which stands on the grounds of the Mission Nombre de Dios. It had was the first Catholic mission to American Indians had launched. And, now, comes the surprise , St. Augustine was the site of the first Thanksgiving celebration in America. A

In 1565, a fleet of Spanish ships bearing 800 colonists and 700 soldiers had been sighted land. Since it was Aug. 28, the feast of St. Augustine, the colony had been named in honor of one of our greatest doctors of the Church. The entire colony — all the settlers, all the troops, went ashore on 8th Sept. As he set foot on land, the admiral of the fleet, Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles, kissed a crucifix and later claimed the land for the king of Spain.

The colonists erected a decorated and furnished makeshift outdoor altar, and had  gathered around as the colony’s chaplain, Father Francisco López de Mendoza Grajales. They celebrated Mass — the first in Florida and the first in what is now the United States. Members of the Timucuan tribe had been drawn to the beach by the arrival of the strangers and stayed to watch the Mass.

Later, the Spanish invited the Timucuans to join them in a feast to thank Almighty God for the safe arrival. And so Europeans and Native Americans had shared a meal together, in the spirit of gratitude for their blessings. They did it 56 years before the pilgrims and Wampanoags’ Thanksgiving in which Massachusetts has been now.

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By Prakriti Neogi