Tricia Angela Pastrano

CCA
THE FIRST MASS

There is an argument on the first Mass celebrated in the Philippines. It was first
accepted that “Mazaua”, the island Pigafetta refers to in his account, was in
Butuan. This was accepted for three centuries, 17th, 18th, and 19th. But after
rediscoveries of documents, Limsawa being “Mazaua” came into into view. This is
still a controversy and both parties are still fighting for evidence.
The widespread of the Butuan tradition started when the two Jesuit historians,
Father Francisco Colin S.J. and Father Francisco Combes S.J., wrote about it in
their works which was constantly being quoted by many other scholars and writers
in their own works. Colin’s account was accurate up until the landing of
Homonhon which after that becomes vague and brings up Butuan suddenly without
details. Combes did not mention the first mass but he did mention two events that
happened in the first mass according to Pigafetta, the planting of the cross and the
formal claiming of the Archipaelago on behalf of the Castilan Crown. Both Colin
and Combres exercised a strong influence over writers quoting their works, some
of them misunderstanding the material.
In 19th century, Joaquin Martinez de Zuniga wrote Historia de Filipinas and he was
one of the important figures who accepted the Butuan tradition. These were then
followed by many other works which had a lot of errors especially when it came to
the route the expedition of Magellan took. In the works, the historians had
Magellan sailing to Cebu from “Limasagua” following the route between Leyte
and Samar. Following that route, they should have ended up in the Bicol Peninsula,
not in Cebu. But these errors were overlooked and the Butuan tradition was still
accepted.
The one responsible for the shift in opinion was the Spanish Jesuit scholar, Father
Pablo Pastells S.J. who collected documents from Archivo de Indas in Seville and
from other sources. The shift of opinion was due to the rediscovery of two primary
sources which is Pigafetta’s account and Albo’s log. James A. Robertson
reproduced the Italian text of Pigafetta’s account, with English translations. He and
Emma Blair then came up with their work, “The Philippine Islands”.
The evidences in favor of Limasawa are in Albo’s log-book, Pigafetta’s testimony
regarding the route, his map, the two native kings, and the seven days at “Mazua”.
Francisco Albo, a pilot in Magellan’s expedition, kept a log-book on their voyage
an in it was the description on the location of “Mazaua”, or in Albo’s log-book
“Mazava”. Coasting southwards along the eastern coast, then turning southwest,
they came up on a small island which lies the latitude of 9 and two-thirds degrees
North. This description fits the location of the small island of Limasawa. In
Pigafetta’s account, the route taken after leaving Homonhon was towards the west
southwest, between four islands namely Cenalo (being the island of Leyte),
Hiunanghan (Hinunangan), Ibusson (Hibuson), and Albarien. According to his
maps, Mazaua is a small island which lies off the southwestern tip of the larger
island of Ceilon, which is Southern Leyte, and is to the east of the island of Bohol.
Therefore, it lies roughly equivalent to the position of Limasawa. Mazaua cannot
be identified as Butuan as it is in another and much larger island which we now
call Mindanao.
In Sunday, March 31 the first mass was celebrated and a cross was planted on the
summit of the highest hill. In both events, the king of Mazaua who later guided the
Magellan expedition to Cebu, and the king of Butuan who was one of his relatives.
The relevant fact is that the king of Butuan was a visitor to Mazaua because his
territory was in Butuan, which was in another island.