The first mass in the Philippines is a historical event that marks the beginning of

Christianity in the country. Knowing the site of where it happened, retraces the exploration of
Portuguese explorers discovering the country, and in this paper, I believe that the site of the first
mass in the Philippines, is in Limasawa.
Limasawa is a sixth-class island municipality in Southern Leyte and is considered the
smallest municipality in the said province. According to an online source, EV-Learners, the
name of the island, “Limasawa” came from the phrase “Lima Asawa” or “Lima Y Asawa” as said
by Portuguese explorers, which refers to the number of wives of the Rajah of the Island, Rajah
Kolambu. Another assumption on the origin of the name, is that when the Spanish men arrived
to the island, they called it “Mazaua” for the beauty of the place, and considering their custom of
adding prefix “Le” to a specific name, “Le Mazaua” became widely known as the name of the
island and it was the local people themselves who later changed the spelling and came up with
the word “Limasawa”. Furthermore, the name “Mazaua” resembles to the name of an island,
“Masao” which confused people and became one of the evidences that the first mass actually
happened in Masao, Butuan based on other records. However, I believe that the evidences of
Limawasa as the site of the first mass in the Philippines is more credible and plausible.
Antonio Pigafetta is an Italian scholar and explorer from the Republic of Venice. He
travelled with the Portugese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his crew on their first Voyage
around the world. The said exploration is recorded as Pigafetta wrote their discoveries and later
released a book, The First Voyage around the world when they returned to Spain in 1522.
According to his book, it was March 16 th, 1521 when they came to the island of Zamal (Samar),
and from there, they started to explore the country. On the following days, they travel one island
to another, until they came to Limasawa and hold a mass on March 31, 1521 headed by Father
Pedro de Valderrama.
Antonio Pigafetta’s records on Magellan’s journey confirmed to be said true as it
matches the records of Francisco Albo’s logbook who is the pilot of Magellan’s flagship. Though
in Albo’s logbook do not mention the specific name of the island, he stated that the location of
where the cross is planted, can be seen three islands to the west and southwest which fits the
southern end of Limasawa.
In addition to that, Republic Act No. 2733 declares that the site in Magallanes, Limasawa
Island in the Province of Leyte is where the first mass happened in the Philippines was held as
a national shrine to provide for the observation of Historical monuments and Landmarks,
threats, and other purposes. The republic act is crafted and passed by the congress of the
Philippines and was approved the President of the Philippines. This proves that the country
shall regard Limasawa as the site of the first mass in the country.

Word Count: 514 words

References
Pigafetta, A. (1969). The First Voyage Around the World. Manila: Filipinana Book Guild.
Retrieved from https://learn-ap-southeast-1-prod-fleet02-xythos.s3.ap-
southeast1.amazonaws.com/5be3c7fe2b7fc/901097?responsecachecontrol=private%2C
%20maxage%3D21600&responsecontentdisposition=inline%3B%20filename%2A
%3DUTF8%27%27Pigafetta_First%2520Voyage%2520Around%2520the
%2520World.pdf&responsecontenttype=application
%2Fpdf&XAmzAlgorithm=AWS4HMACSHA256&XAmzDate=20201010T060000Z&XAmz
SignedHeaders=host&XAmzExpires=21600&XAmzCredential=AKIAZH6WM4PL2RCDY4
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%2F20201010%2Fapsoutheast1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&XAmzSignature=d4ff1792018
38f8986084adab57e9c03b9adb7c10853e847e96b2978abb4b608
Republic Act No. 2733 (1960). Congress of the Philippines. Retrieved from
https://lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra1960/ra_2733_1960.html
Taylor, E. G, R. (1964) A log-book of Magellan Voyage. The Cambridge Core.
doi.org/10.1017/S0373463300030976
The History of Limasawa (2017). EV Learners. Retrieved from
http://evlearners.com/historylimasawa-island/