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Four Sites of the First Mass

Civil Engineering (Polytechnic University of the Philippines)

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Four Sites of the First Mass

On Easter Sunday, 31st of March 1521 a small island port named Mazaua hosted the
first Christian mass. The two eyewitnesses Antonio Pigafetta (1523) and Antonio de
Herrera y Tordesillas (1601) have told two identical accounts of this event. “Massawa,”
a word found in 181 of the Philippine languages, is found only in Butuanon and its scion,
Tausog. It means bright light and clear crystal.

Some Filipino historians have long challenged the notion that Limasawa was the
location of the country’s Catholic Mass. The historian Sonia Zaide identified the site of
the first Christian mass in Butuan as Masao. Zaide’s claim was supported by the diary
of Magellan’s Chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta. In 1995 Congresswoman Ching Palaza in
Agusan Del Norte- Butuan, subsequently, submitted a bill to the Congress contesting
the Butuan aws the site of the first mass.

To examine the issue and recommended the factual findings, the Philippine Congress
referred the matter to the National Historical Institution. Dr. Samuel K. Tan, chairman of
NHI, asserted the first mass at Limasawa. In the past several centuries, the exact place
of the first Mass on Eastern Day, which according to the number one pro Butuan author,
was not recorded in observing Easter Sunday on 13th of March 1521, still under
discussion, includes countless experts in education, history, religion, politics, or other
subjects (Salazar 2015).These are the paragraphs from Pigafetta, translated by Lord
Stanley of Alderley.

Salazar disprove that the First Mass on Easter was not a Biblical Festival not practiced
in the Book of Acts since the original New Testament Church which started only on the
Day of Pentecost in 31A.D/C.E. The Mass was not observed as described in Acts.

1. Limasawa Island, Southern Leyte. The most famous is Limasawa Island, an island
town in Southern Leyte, which the Philippine government recognized as the actual site
of the First Mass. Limasawa Island was also known by the powerful Roman Catholic
Church as the site of the first mass landed by Magellan with his crew. The Spanish
Embassy also acknowledged Limasawa as a landing site for Magellan and that it also
dispatched the galleon of Andalusia for five days to Maasin City and about three hours
to Limasawa. Limasawa has been recognized by the Embassy of Portugal in Metro
Manila as the ‘Mazzaua,’ written by Pigafetta on which Magellan and his soldiers
observed the first mass in Easter or introduced the people of the Island to Christianity.

2. Masao or Mazaua in Butuan City, Agusan del Norte. The next popular one is
Mazaua in Butuan City, the capital of Agusan del Norte in Northern Mindanao. The
Butuanons and their supporters advocate that Magellan and his men landed in Mazaua
for the reason that it has the anchorage, rice field, gold, antique “balanghai” and other
artifacts which they unearthed in scattered areas in Butuan City.

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In the so called ‘Magellan harbor’ in Butuan, the real harbor for the cargo and
passenger ships travelling to and departing from Butuan City is actually in Nasipit, which
25 kilometers west of Mazaua or Butuan City offshore is too shallow for ship navigation!

If Mazaua had the abundant rice field, other food supplies, and water at the time when
Magellan and his troops landed and held the First Mass or observed Easter Sunday,
how come Magellan and his fellow sailors sought for more significant island? Mazaua
was and is attached to Mindanao, the second largest island in the entire Philippines.

Since the Pro-Mazaua supporters emphatically claimed that Magellan and his fellow
sailor held the First Mass or observed Easter Sunday in their island of plenty. But what
happened to the abundant foods, drinks, and other supplies in Mazaua and their next
neighbor, the Kingdom of Butuan? Why did the two rajahs of Mazaua and Butuan
volunteer as pilots to Magellan to obtain provisions in Cebu, which is much smaller than
Mindanao?

The Pro-Butuan proponents claimed that Magellan and his troops landed in Mazaua
because Pigafetta wrote in his book about the small gift items made of gold supposedly
from Butuan which Rajah Kalambu gave to Magellan. Well then, if gold was such a big
deal in Butuan, Magellan and his sailor could have sailed easily south to Surigao,
Mindanao while they were still sailing off the eastern coast of Panaon Island. They had
seen Surigao which was and is in northeast Mindanao before nighttime because
Mindanao is the second biggest Island in the entire Philippines. Surigao was known to
have gold at that time and up to the present day. Magellan and his men in 3 ships did
not search for spices only. They searched for anything or things of value to bring home
and hand them over the King of Spain.

Before Magellan and his men crossed the Pacific Ocean from the South America, the
so-called experts on Mazaua, Butuan denied or ignored the unwritten history of the
Portuguese colonization of Mindanao. The Roman Catholic Portuguese sailors were
more likely to have held the ‘First Mass’ in the South of the Philippines before
Magellan’s explorer landed in March 1521. Thus, the proponents of the pro-Butuan
were entitled to assume, but not historically documented, the ‘first mass’ in Mindanao
before Portugal had exchanged the entire Philippines with Spain for Brazil. Butuan was
called Butan or Butuao on a Portuguese map from about 1535 to 1538. Spain didn’t
even know that thare was Butuan. Therefore, Magellan and his fellow explorers did not
sail south to Mazaua, Butuan.

3. Homonhon Island, Eastern Samar. After they landed in Guam and called Las Islas
de los Ladrones (the theft island), Magellan’s troops had a terrible experience staying
there. Some people in Homonhon Island and Samar claimed, shortly after the arrival of
Magellan and his companions on the island, they had a mass in the Isle to thank God

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for their safe journey from Guam and the vast Pacific Ocean. According to the group
that was supporting the first mass in Homonhon:

“Pigafetta did not exactly say that it was their first mass, he only reported that a
mass was celebrated on Easter Sunday (in Mazzaua Island). Atty Mendiola concludes
that on the island of Homonhon on 19th of March 1521 the first mass celebrated was
held in the Philippines not one on 31th of that month, Limasawa or Mazaua. In the
modern historiography, any passage or statement to the contrary in our history books
would be unsustainable.”

4. Mahaba Island, Placer, Surigao del Norte. Finally, in the North-East of Mindanao,
another group, said that the expedition of Magellan was the first Mass in Surigao del
Norte, Mahaba Island.

“ It was recorded that when he was nearing the shores of Mindanao, Magellan
saw lights of a settlement which he avoided and sailed farther north and anchored near
an island named Mazzava now mark in maps as Mahaba Island, located at latitude nine
and two-thirds degrees”.

“Mazzava Island appears on present detailed maps of the area to be Mahaba

Island in the Municipality of Placer, Surigao del Norte. Magellan could have mistaken
Mahaba Island, a small island to be part of Masepilid Island because it is almost
touching this bigger island and at low tide, it could easily be mistaken to be connected
to the bigger island at the northern tip.”

“ If present maps will be examined today, it will be noted that Mahaba Island is
very close to the island of Masepilid and the flotilla of Magellan most probably anchored
between these two island. It will also be noted that Masepilid is shaped like a stingray
as described by Pigafetta”

While in Bolinao, Pangasinan, there is a small monument that marks the site of the
first Christmas Mass ever held in the Philippines. A Franciscan friar called Odoric from
Pordenone, Italy is said to have landed on the shore of Pangasinan, two centuries
before Magellan wandered through the Philippine archipelago seeking shelter from a
stormy sea.

Taking a black crucifix onto the beach, he met:”hostile indigenous people who were
soon pacified by his courage and faith. The first Christmas mass was held in the
Philippines, and several Pangasinians were baptized later. It took place on December
25, 1324.

Odoric Mattiussi of Pordenone was born n 1286 and entered the Order of
Franciscans in Udine around 1300. Odoric set sail to Asia in 1318, ( but William H. Scott

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, a historian doubted that he is a priest). When Odoric arrived back home n 1330, he
told a friar named William of Solagna in Padua the story of his 12 years of adventure,
but he did nothing about a Christmas Mass with a Christmas tree on all his travels.

So what fits this story in Pangasinan? Believer’s points to a place called Thalamasin by
Odoric. Probably its supposed link to Pangasinan is based on te excessively hopeful
interpretation of Henry Yule’s book, Cathay, and the way it is . In examining the account
of Odoric, Yule spoke about the possible meaning in Malaysian of the name
Thalamasin, noting that tanah masin is a “land of Salt”. This has been sufficiently
proved to some historians that the name Pangasinan means “the place where the sun is
made”

Odoric has visited the Philippines. Some also notice the connection to a legendary land
of the Tawalisi name, home to the warrior princess of Pangasinan, Urduja- but this is a
different myth.

The name Paten knew Thalamasin, in the account he said, Odoric had no say on salt.
The men of this place used protective amulets and blowpipe weapon placed under their
skin. He said there were several trees in this land that could produce meal, wine and
poison. Yule however pointed out that these features can be described by many places
in the Malaysian archipelago.

Thalamasin , somewhere between Java and Campa, now part of Vietnam, is in the
narrative places of Odoric, and he said that he was near the “south sea” Bolinao.,
however, is a 16 degree point north of the equator and is a significant detour from the
direct route from both.

The best guess of Henry Yule was that Odoric probably referred to a place on the South
coast of Borneo known by now as Banjarmasin, which means “salt garden”, Yule also
referred to the site on the east coast of Borneo, whch was known as Biru (now Berau),
which was listed n atlases called Talisian and Panten.

Unfortunately, the pre-colonial Philippines have no written history; in fact, nearly no

written documents at all. Foreign accounts are outlined and almost never mention
places with recognizable names in the Philippines. For historians and Filipino
nationalists, this was frustrating and has brought some of them to cross the line
between history and myth. Whenever there is no information, some people always want
information gaps to make them feel important, regardless of how desperately far-
reaching this information s. Scientists and historians, however, are often depicted as
villains, who do legitimate research that can debunk these myth. The location of the
mass until now has been contentious as many, undeniable and compelling reasons
exist for believing that the first mass was highly possible in a single area in many
locations

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