New York and Boston might be noted for going all out with their St. Patrick’s Day parades, but St. Augustine, Florida, apparently is the first U.S. city to hold a celebration honoring the Irish saint.

“The first St. Patrick's Day parade was in St. Augustine Florida in 1601, organized by the then-Spanish Colony's Irish vicar Richard Arthur,” San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said on Twitter as Catholics toasted St. Patrick on Friday.

Cordileone likely drew his assessment from a History.com report.

Irish settlers came to the American colonies and brought the tradition of celebrating St. Patrick's Day with them, that report says. It dug up research from Florida that suggests that St. Augustine celebrated St. Patrick's Day more than a century before Boston and New York did. Records indicate that the Irish vicar, Ricardo Artur, organized the parade to honor the Catholic feast day of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, in 1601.

The first St. Patrick's Day parade in New York City was recorded in 1762. With the influx of Irish immigrants to America in the mid-19th century, the celebration of March 17 gained popularity throughout the country, History.com added.

Today, St. Patrick's Day is celebrated in many countries. Still, the United States has some of the largest celebrations due to its large Irish-American population, according to History.com. Millions of Americans participate in parades and other festivities on this day to celebrate.

Secular celebrations of St. Patrick's Day are often associated with the color green, shamrocks and other symbols of Irish culture. In addition to parades, people often attend parties and events featuring Irish music, food and drink, such as corned beef and cabbage, Irish soda bread and beer.

St. Patrick was born in Britain in the late 4th century. A Christian missionary, he was taken captive by Irish raiders when he was 16 and was held captive for six years before he escaped and returned to Britain. Patrick joined the Catholic Church and studied for 15 years before he was consecrated as the church's second missionary to Ireland. He began his mission in 432 and by the time of his death in 461, most of the island had converted to Christianity, History.com said.