Why Limasawa?

In 1519, a Portuguese explorer named Ferdinand Magellan started an expedition

in search of fame and fortune with a fleet of five ships in line of the discovery of the

Spice Islands. Magellan’s voyage only had 3 goals or the 3 “G’s”, the “Gold”, “God” and

“Glory”. This 3 “G’s” really mattered at the time Magellan arrived in the Philippines. The

country is clearly rich in natural resources which Magellan really admire about because

of gold and other minerals they can mine from. In the present time, most of the Filipinos

in the country are Christians and Catholics which the birth of Christianity and

Catholicism is from the works of the Spaniards where in the past they succeed in

colonizing the Filipinos to be Catholics. Later on, they conducted the very first Easter

Sunday Mass in the country and this became as one of the greatest controversies

among the years about where was the First Mass was held. According to Antonio

Pigafetta, an explorer who stood as the geographer of Magellan and Francisco Albo, a

master’s mate of the Trinidad, a ship led by Magellan. The Limasawa island is close to

the description and coordinates of the place wherein the First Mass was held based on

their journals.

However, according to Albo’s and Pigafetta’s accounts, the eyewitnesses of the

said first mass, they did not directly state the name of the location of the first mass thus

only leaving the word, “Mazzaua” which was written in Pigafetta’s diary and Albo calls it

as “Mazao”. In the Pigafetta’s diary, the island was described as surrounded by the sea

not a river which perfectly fits the traits of Limasawa which is a tadpole-like island

surrounded by the sea in Southern Leyte. Even so, the coordinates of the said first

mass is very much closer to Limasawa than Butuan. Many arguments and debates
have occurred in the past claiming Limasawa as the real site of the first mass. In 1960,

a law has been approved by lawmakers declaring Limasawa as the site of the First

Mass to commemorate the birth of Christianity in the Philippines.

In this argument, I stand with the Limasawa island. The sources proved that it is

the real site of the first mass as they were written by credible persons like Albo and

Pigafetta which were the eyewitnesses of the first mass and the shipmates in

Magellan’s voyage. The opposition has weak claims and soon their evidences were

proven wrong. It is also evident that the Limasawa island is the real site based from the

investigations made by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines. NHCP’s

investigators did exactly what to look on this both islands. They went up the hill and look

across as they erected through the neighboring islands which came up to the

conclusion that the Limasawa island is closer to Pigafetta’s description of the place and

Butuan doesn’t have any sufficient evidence to support their claims. Moreover, the

commission already affirmed last month of July 2020 that the Limasawa is the real site

in line with the preparations for the celebration of the 500-year anniversary of the very

first mass in the country. These facts strongly claim that the First Mass happened in the

island of Limasawa.