BUTUAN OR LIMASAWA?

THE SITE OF THE FIRST MASS IN THE PHILIPPINES

Submitted by:

GROUP 2 (CE2-8)
Catapang, John Walter C.
Claveria, Hannah G.
Barcelon, Joshua
Rosales,Jessie Nikko
Gutierrez, EJ
Caguete, Lucky

Submitted to:
Mr. Abvic Ryan Maghirang
 Butuan or Limasawa?

The site of the first mass in the Philippines: The Reexamination of evidence

(Group 2)

During the colonnial times, spaniards are well known for the spreading of
christianity. They are the legitimate successors of catholicism that was brought to the
islands of Philippines. At the moment, Roman Catholic is widely known. It is a religous
group with a large mass of members. It has a traditional mass and there is a dillemma
where it has started right away in the country.

Catholic mass is known as traditional practice of people in a religious group like

christianity as act of worship to God. On the entire expedition of Magellan, there were two
persons namely, Antonio Pigafetta and Fransisco Albo. Their accounts became the basis
of the historical first mass on our island. Basically, they both stated that the first mass
took place on the island called Mazava in Albo’s account and Mazaua in Pigafetta's.
According to them, they has been to the island of Homonhon and then finally went to that
said places. Based on these geographical locations provided by Albo and Pigafetta, the
island of Limasawa in Southern Leyte is the counterpart. Thus, it strongly supports that
the first mass in the Philippines took place in Limasawa.

From another point of view, on the statement of father Fernando Colins, a historian,
in his work labor, Evangelica, he asserted that Magellan went to Butuan and celebrated
the first mass and erected a cross. To support that, Antonio Pigafetta testified that he
gave a gift of a certain things to the queen mother of France, Louise of Savoy and mother
of Francis the first. Gian Battista Ramusio mentioned that a copy of Pigafetta's account
was given to Louise of savoy whereas this manuscript was translated to French by
Jacques Fabre and imprinted by Simon de Coline. Then it was translated back into an
Italian version by Ramusio and it became the basis of Colin's account. Thus, on the other
way around, Colin's account was considered reliable and there was a monument erected
during 1872 to commemorate the first mass in Butuan on April 08, 1521.

Through the different accounts stated, we disagreed to the claims of the second
point of view because Ramusio’s version of Pigafetta's manuscripts are not much liable.
Before and until now, the support of paperworks signed is assumed to be reliable and
legitimate source. The transmission of text from Pigafetta to Louise of Savoy to Simon de
Coline is without documentary support. One factor is that Pigafetta did not mention his
relation to Loiuse even the event where he himself gave a copy of his work to her. Just
that, he said that he once gave a simple gift to her. It was based on the original Ambrosian
text of Pigafetta. And based on father Colin's account, Magellan and his men went to
Cebu on April 07, 1521 but in the monument's inscription, the first mass was held on April
08,1521 on Butuan. From our study of the document, we then realized that it is very much
impossible travelling to Butuan from Cebu in just one day before where transportation
was not yet advanced. Also, Magellan’s crew uses a sailor’s ship and its not fast enough
to travel along the seas. On the same day of travelling, a cross has been erected on the
summit of a mountain stated by Francisco Albo. On that mountain, you will see the three
islands from west to southwest and Butuan can be seen from the Northern part. Base on
the topographical details given by Albo and Pigafetta it describes the present Limasawa.

From our understanding of the text, we concluded that Limasawa was the first to
be the place of the first mass in the Philippines. No to be biased, there are facts given by
Pigafetta and Albo as the eyewitnesses of Magellan’s voyage. The corroboration of
information and statements on those two were present while the evidence presented by
the other was mostly based and supported by other historians, the statement