Evaluate:

Unit Quiz (20 pts)

Based on the Pigafetta and Albo accounts, outline the characteristics of the place
where the first Catholic Mass was held. Include the place names and pay special
attention to the geographical and material context clues. Write 5 and identify the page
and paragraph where the clues were mentioned.

Table 1. Clues on the location of the First Catholic Mass in the Philippines (10 pts.)
Page number, descriptions
paragraph
number

1. Page 2, 1st At dawn on Saturday, March sixteen, 1521, we came upon a high
Paragraph land at a distance of three hundred leagues from islands of Ladroni
—an island named Zamal [Samar]. The following day,

the captain-general desired to land on another island which was

uninhabited and lay to the right of the above-mentioned island.

2. Page 6, 2nd He wore a cotton cloth all embroidered with silk, which covered
Paragraph him from the waist to the knees. At his side hung a dagger, the haft
of which was somewhat long and all of gold, and its scabbard of
carved wood He had three spots of gold on every tooth, and his
teeth appeared as if bound with gold. He was perfumed with storax
and benzoin. He was tawny and painted all over. That island of his
was called Butuan and Calagan.

3. Page 8, 1st Those people are constantly chewing a fruit which they call areca,
Paragraph and which resembles a pear. They cut that fruit into four parts, and
then wrap it in the leaves of their tree which they call betre [betel].
Those leaves resemble the leaves of the mulberry. They mix it with a
little lime, and when they have chewed it thoroughly, they spit it
 out. It makes the mouth exceedingly red.

There are dogs, cats, swine, fowls, goats, rice, ginger, coconuts,
figs, oranges, lemons, millet, panicum, sorgo, wax, and a quantity
of gold in that island

4. Page 8, 1st It lies in a latitude of nine and two-thirds degrees toward the Arctic
Paragraph Pole, and in a longitude of one hundred and sixty-two degrees from
the line of demarcation. It is twenty-five leagues from the Acquada,
and is called Mazaua.

5. Page 8, 2nd We remained there seven days, after which we laid our course
Paragraph toward the northwest, passing among five islands; namely, Ceylon,
Bohol, Canighan, Baybai, and Gatighan.

There is a distance of twenty leagues from Mazaua to Gatighan.

Based on the arguments of Fr. Amalia, outline the major points he made to
uphold the Butuan claim as the site of the First Catholic Mass in the Philippines. Write
them on the table below.

Table 2. Arguments in favor of Butuan as the Site of the First Philippine Mass
(10 pts)

1. Amalla pointed out that nowhere in Pigafetta and Albo`s account was there any
mention of the word “Limasawa”. “Instead”, he said, “what the primary sources
 recorded was that the first Mass was held in a place called Mazaua. The exact words
were `e se chiama Mazaua` (and is called Mazaua).”

2. In 1986, Asean scientists found a “graben” in Butuan. A graben is a valley-like

depression of the land caused by the subsidence, or sinking, of a series of blocks of the
earth’s crust. This graben separated Pinamanculan Hills, which is beside Barangay
Masao and where the current Butuan airport is located, from the main landmass of Mt.
Mayapay in the southwest.

In 2001, a group of local experts made another confirmatory discovery for the Butuan
claim. The experts—Wilfredo Ronquillo, chief archaeologist of the National Museum of
the Philippines; Dr. Yolanda Aguilar, geologist and paleontologist; Roberto de
Ocampo, chief geologist of the National Museum; and Dr. Ricarte Javelosa, chief
geomorphologist of the Department of

Environment and Natural Resources—testified that Pinamanculan Hills were but an island
during Episode V of its geological formation, that is, between 500 years AD and until the 18th
century.

3. Amalla disclosed that when the late Jaime Cardinal Sin of Manila was still alive, he told
Amalla he supported his Butuan claim for the first Mass. He said Cardinal Sin allowed
him to see the original copy of the “Anales Ecclesiasticos de Philipinas 1574-1683.” Said
Amalla, “This document stated that the Easter Sunday Mass in 1521 was celebrated by
the Chaplain of Magellan in Butuan.”

4. Pigafetta wrote that two kings attended the Mass: “His island was called Butuan and
Calaghan. And that island is called Mazaua… Of these kings, the aforesaid painted
one is named Raia Colambu and the other Raia Siaui.”

“They are Butuanon brother-kings,” Amalla claimed.

5. The primary documents mention two balanghai boats accosting Magellan’s flagship
 when they neared Mazaua island, with the king of Mazaua in one of the balanghai.
Pigafetta also mentioned several times the abundance of gold in the island—“Pieces
of gold of the size of walnuts and eggs are found by sifting the earth in the island of
that king who came to our ships. All the dishes of the king are of gold and also some
portion of his house….”