The first Catholic Mass in the Philippines was held on March 31, 1521, Easter Sunday.

It was
said by Father Pedro de Valderrama along the shores of what was referred to in the journals of
Antonio Pigafetta as "Mazaua".

Today, this site is widely believed by many to be Limasawa at the tip of Southern Leyte,[1]
though this is contested by some who assert that the first mass was instead held at Masao,
Butuan.[2]

Contents
 1 Landing on Philippine shores

o 1.1 Blood compact

o 1.2 First mass

o 1.3 Planting of the cross

 2 Proclamation of the national shrine

 3 Historical controversies

o 3.1 Masao

o 3.2 Bolinao

 4 Notes

 5 Bibliography

Landing on Philippine shores

When Ferdinand Magellan and his European crew sailed from San Lucar de Barrameda for an
expedition to search for spices, these explorers landed on the Philippines after their voyage from
other proximate areas. On March 28, 1521, while at sea, they saw a bonfire which turned out to
be Mazaua (believed to be today's Limasawa) where they anchored.[3]

Blood compact

The island's sovereign ruler was Rajah Siaiu. When Magellan and comrades set foot on the
grounds of Mazaua, he befriended the Rajah together with his brother Rajah Kulambu of Butuan.
In those days, it was customary among the indigenous—and in most of southeast Asia—to seal
friendship with a blood compact. On instigation of Magellan who had heard the Malayan term
for it, casi casi, the new friends performed the ritual. This was the first recorded blood compact
between Filipinos and Spaniards. Gifts were exchanged by the two parties when the celebration
had ended.[4][5]

First mass

On March 31, 1521, an Easter Sunday, Magellan ordered a mass to be celebrated which was
officiated by Father Pedro Valderrama, the Andalusion chaplain of the fleet, the only priest then.
Conducted near the shores of the island, the Holy First Mass marked the birth of Roman
Catholicism in the Philippines. Colambu and Siaiu were the first natives of the archipelago,
which was not yet named "Philippines" until the expedition of Ruy Lopez de Villalobos in 1543,
to attend the mass among other native inhabitants.[4][6]

Planting of the cross

In the afternoon of the same day, Magellan instructed his comrades to plant a large wooden cross
on the top of the hill overlooking the sea.[7] Magellan's chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta, who
recorded the event said:

"After the cross was erected in position, each of us repeated a Pater Noster and an Ave Maria,
and adored the cross; and the kings [Colambu and Siaiu] did the same."[8]

Magellan then took ownership of the islands where he had landed in the name of King Charles V
which he had named earlier on March 16 Archipelago of Saint Lazarus because it was the day of
the saint when the Armada reached the archipelago.[4][6]

Proclamation of the national shrine

On June 19, 1960, Republic Act No. 2733, called the Limasawa Law, was enacted without
being signed by the President of the Philippines. The legislative fiat declared The site in
Magallanes, Limasawa Island in the Province of Leyte, where the first Mass in the Philippines
was held is hereby declared a national shrine to commemorate the birth of Christianity in the
Philippines.[9] Magallanes is east of the island of Limasawa. In 1984 Imelda Marcos had a multi-
million pesos Shrine of the First Holy Mass built, an edifice made of steel, bricks and polished
concrete, and erected on top of a hill overlooking barangay Magallanes, Limasawa. A super
typhoon completely wiped this out just a few months later. Another shrine was inaugurated in
2005.[10]

Limasawa celebrates the historic and religious coming of the Spaniards every March 31 with a
cultural presentation and anniversary program dubbed as Sinugdan, meaning "beginning.".[11] Yet
this has no reference at all to a Catholic mass being held on March 31, 1521.

Historical controversies
Masao

Some Filipino historians have long contested the idea that Limasawa was the site of the first
Catholic mass in the country.[12] Historian Sonia Zaide identified Masao (also Mazaua) in Butuan
as the location of the first Christian mass.[7] The basis of Zaide's claim is the diary of Antonio
Pigafetta, chronicler of Magellan's voyage. In 1995 then Congresswoman Ching Plaza of Agusan
del Norte-Butuan City filed a bill in Congress contesting the Limasawa hypothesis and asserting
the "site of the first mass" was Butuan.[13] The Philippine Congress referred the matter to the
National Historical Institute for it to study the issue and recommend a historical finding. Then
NHI chair Dr. Samuel K. Tan reaffirmed Limasawa as the site of the first mass.[14]

Bolinao

Odoric of Pordenone, an Italian and Franciscan friar and missiona ry explorer, is heartily
believed by many Pangasinenses to have celebrated the first mass in Pangasinan in around 1324
that would have predated the mass held in 1521 by Ferdinand Magellan, which is generally
regarded as the first mass in the Philippines. A marker in front of Bolinao Church states that the
first Mass on Philippine soil was celebrated in Bolinao Bay in 1324 by a Franciscan missionary,
Blessed Odorico. However, the National Historical Institute led by its chair Ambeth Ocampo
recognized the historical records of Limasawa in Southern Leyte as the venue of the first Mass,
held on March 31, 1521.[15][16]

MAKA BUANG SYA PROMISE!!!!

THE visit of Pope Francis will inevitably resurrect a controversial and unresolved issue on the
introduction of Christianity to the Philippines – just where was the first Holy Mass celebrated?
On his arrival, the Pope noted that the Church in the Philippines was preparing to celebrate the
fifth centenary of the “first proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ on these shores.”

The introduction of Christianity on Philippine shores is generally linked to the celebration of the
first Holy Mass, and Butuan City and Limasawa, Southern Leyte, both claim to be the venue of
this historical religious rite. A dear friend, Rolly Narciso, is among those feverishly pushing for
the official recognition of Masau in Butuan City as the true site. It’s hope that this controversy in
the country’s history will have been resolved by March 31, 2015 when the Philippines celebrates
its 500th year of Christianization.

Actually, the National Historical Institute (NHI) has already reached a conclusion after a two-
year study. In 1996, it reaffirmed the popular belief propelled by Republic Act 2733 that the first
Holy Mass was celebrated in Limasawa Island on March 31, 1521.The NHI cited the memoirs of
Antonio Pigafetta, who chronicled the expedition of Ferdinand Magellan, as “the only credible
primary source that yields the best evidence of the celebration of the first Christian Mass on
Philippine soil.” This issue, however, remains debatable despite the pronouncement from the
NHI.

Tomas “Buddy” Gomez 3rd, a one-time press secretary of President Cory, disagreed with the
NHI on naming Limasawa as the true venue and called for the correction of this “long-standing
historical error.” No, he doesn’t contest that Pigafetta had indeed written that a Mass was held in
Limasawa on that Easter Sunday, March 31, 1521,
“There us, however, on inescapable and irrefutable fact: “Pigafetta NEVER said that the Easter
Mass in Limasawa was the ‘first.’ Neither did any of the survivors of Magellan’s expedition,”
Buddy added in a post to his Facebook friends, including this columnist.

He noted that while a Jesuit wrote in 1663 that the first Mass was held in Limasawa, he
considered this as a mere opinion and not a fact. He lamented that subsequent “copycat”
historians entrenched this “historical error.”

“An unrecorded first Mass, of necessity, comes springing out into more credible contention,”
Buddy wrote.

He wondered if a Mass was celebrated on Philippine shores before the 1521 Easter Sunday. He
cited records showing that Magellan stayed in Homonhon (now a part of Samar Island) for eight
days, including March 24 which was Palm Sunday.

“Is Easter Sunday Mass ever celebrated without being preceded by Mass on a Palm Sunday,” he
asked. He then argued that the First Mass could actually have been held not in Limasawa or
Masau but in Homonhon.

He expressed the hope that Pope Francis would return to the Philippines when the country
celebrates its Fifth Centenary of Christianity and that by then “all historical inexactitude” would
have been resolved collectively by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and the
leadership of Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle.

Cory’s birthday
The relatives and many admirers of the late President Cory Aquino will be commemorating her
birthday tomorrow, January 25. Like many, I grieved on her death in August 2009. Her death was
a tragedy, rendered more sorrowful by the greater tragedy of her only son’s being elected to
Malacañang by sentimental voters. Why couldn’t she have lived longer or until after the 2010
presidential election?

I also grieve on the death of an old friend, former Rep. Mike Romero of Negros Oriental. He
always had a sunny disposition, even when he was on the verge of death and needing a kidney
transplant. He served for three terms in the House (1987 to 1998) and provided invaluable
services to his constituents. I once heard then Sen. Ernesto Maceda proclaim that if he were to
choose the five most outstanding congressmen at that time, Mike Romero would be one of them.
I must add though that the other Negros Oriental congressmen from 1987 to 1998, Gary Teves
and Jerry Paras, were equally outstanding. It’s very rare for a province to have all its
representatives perform exceptionally well.
Mike was in the board of the Philippine National Bank and, after its privatization, in the
Development Bank of the Philippines. We met occasionally in important meetings of the Laban
ng Demokratikong Pilipino, which he refused to abandon even after it had fallen off its lofty
political status.

Butuan was NOT where the supposed “first mass” was held

The place where an Easter mass was celebrated on March 31, 1521 was not Butuan. Or,
Limasawa.

It was in the island-port named Mazaua. Being an island, it was surrounded by sea
water.

There is an article at Wikipedia on Mazaua where all the properties of Mazaua–its

location, size, kind of port, shape, the name of its king, its flora and fauna, distances
from Homonhon to the port, latitude, etc. etc.–are explicitly defined. Click
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazaua.

A fairly comprehensive but not exhaustive historiography of the Mazaua issue is

contained in an article published in the website of the Italian nuclear scientist and
Italian translator of Dr. Jose Rizal, Dr. Vasco Caini, at http://www.xeniaeditrice.it.
When the page opens scroll down to the article Mazaua.

The notion the March 31, 1521 mass was held at Butuan comes from the garbled account
by Giovanni Battista Ramusio. It is such a corrupted translation of the original that the
account is not Antonio Pigafetta’s at all. In this translation, which Henry Harrisse says is
a plagiarism by Ramusio of an anonymously published book that saw print in 1534 (no
one has seen this edition) and republished in 1536 (which is extant), Ramusio removed
“Mazaua” and replaced it with Butuan.

The Butuan error stayed uncorrected for 266 years from 1534 or 1536 until 1800. The
error was detected in a book containing the authentic Pigafetta narration of the
Magellan voyage, edited by the ex-Augustinian polymath Carlo Amoretti.

But in correcting the error, Amoretti made a colossal blunder which was only detected in
1996 by the author. Amoretti in two footnotes surmised that Mazaua (his exact names
for the island was Massana and Mazzana) MAY be the “Limassava” island in the 1734
map of the Philippines by French mapmaker Jacques N. Bellin. This map was an exact
copy of the most famous map ever made in the Philippines by Fr. Pedro Murillo Velarde,
the edition of 1734.

Amoretti, by way of offering proof to support his assertion, states Limasawa and Mazaua
are in the latitude given by Pigafett, 9 degrees and 40 minutes North. This is wrong on
three points: 1) Limasawa’s latitude is 9 deg. 56 min. N; 2) There is no island at
Pigafetta’s latitude; 3) There are two other readings of latitude for Mazaua, 9 degrees
North by The Genoese Pilot which is supported by the Portuguese squadron leader,
Antonio de Brito, who embargoed all objects found at the flagship Trinidad including a
number of logbooks and other papers, and 9 deg. 20 min. North by Francisco Albo, the
Greek mariner who piloted the Victoria back to Spain on Sept. 6, 1522.

The notion Combes’ Limasawa was Magellan’s Mazaua where the “first mass” was held
is a false notion. Combes nowhere says his Limasawa is the port where the fleet moored
on March 28-April 3, 1521. Nowhere does Combes say there was any mass held in his
Limasawa or anywhere in the Philippines for that matter on March 31, 1521. To verify
this, go to the English translation of the 3-paragraph story by Combes of Magellan’s
sojourn in Philippine waters. Click http://books.google.com/books?id=;rgn=full
%20text;idno=ahz9273.0001.001;didno=ahz9273.0001.001;view=image;seq=0000013
4