Limasawa: Site of the First Mass

Was it really Limasawa or Butuan? Debates continue on where first Mass was

held here in the Philippines. There is a controversy regarding the site of the first Mass

ever celebrated on Philippine soil. Pigafetta, the Italian chronicler of the Magellan

expedition, tells us that it was held at Easter Sunday, the 31st of March 1521, on an

island called “Mazaua”. Two native chieftains were in attendance; the rajah of Mazaua

and the rajah of Butuan. After the Mass, party went up a little hill and planted a wooden

cross upon its summit. In this case, the subject of the controversy is the identity of

Mazaua. There are two conflicting claims regarding this: one school of thought points to

the small island south of Leyte whereas, the other school rejects that claim and points

instead the beach called “masao”, at the mouth of the Agusan River in northern

Mindanao, near the village (now the city) of Butuan. Judging from the facts presented

and basing from the information and evidences which I have researched, I affirm that

the first mass in the Philippines was held in Limasawa.

The first evidence to support my argument in accordance to the accounts of

Pigafetta and Francisco Albo who are eye-witnesses of the Magellan’s voyage both

stated that the first mass in the Philippines took place on an island called Mazava in

Albo’s account and Mazaua in Pigafetta’s account. They both asserted that from the

island of Homonhon they went westward towards the island of Leyte and turned to a

southwest direction to reach this island. Based on this geographic locations provided by

Albo and Pigafetta, the island of Limasawa in Southern Leyte is the counterpart. On the

contrary, the statement of Father Fernando Colins, a historian, in his work Labor

Evangelica, he asserted that Magellan went to Butuan and there he celebrated the first

Mass and erected a cross. And to support this, Antonio Pigafetta testified that he gave a

gift of certain things to the queen Mother of France — Louise of Savory and mother of

Francis I. Gian Battista Ramusio mentioned that a copy of Pigafetta’s account was

given to Louise of Savory. Whereas, this manuscripts were translated to French by

Jacques Fabre and imprinted by Simon de Colins. And also, there was a monument

erected during 1872 to commemorate the First Mass in Butuan on April 8,1521. In my

opinion, Ramusio’s version of Pigafetta’s manuscripts are not reliable. The