Name: Gwyneth C. Reyes. Date: Oct. 12, 2021.

Course and year: BSAc 1

As instructed earlier, 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. Feel free to adjust the rows.

Use the references below to help you with your answer.

Table 1. Clues on the location of the First Catholic Mass in the Philippines
from the Pigafetta and Albo accounts

According to Pigafetta's account, it is notable that he described the execution of mass happened on the shores or
island and there are Filipino natives present. To support the stated evidence, these are some phrases that came
from the document given;”we came upon a highland at a distance… an island namedZamal (Samar)…, to be more
secure and to get water and have some rest. He had two tents set upon the shore for the sick.

Antonio Pigafetta’s accounts in the Magellan-Elcano expedition, which showed the coordinates of the 1521
Easter Sunday Mass are closer to Limasawa.

Francisco Albo’s Log Book one of the pilot in the voyage of Magellan , who is included in 18 survivors, writes on
his book that they erected a cross on a mountain that overlooks the island.

the instance wherein Pigafetta had written about the mass said it had two things in common; they are both held
in the shores and there are Filipino natives present. Another passing evidence, a document found concerning the
landing of Magellan's fleet in Suluan ''(Homonhon)'' and the treaty with the natives featured in a blog post in
2004.

Therefore, the First Catholic Mass in the Philipines was held on March 31, 1521 , Easter Sunday .It was officiated
by a priest named Father Pedro Valderrama in the shore of Mazaua in Pigafetta’s journal , whom people believe
is the town specifically in the shore of Limasawa in Southern Leyte. It is popularly known as the birthplace of the
Church in the Philippines.

Now that you have also read 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. Again, feel free to adjust the rows.

Table 2. Arguments in favor of Butuan as the Site of the First Philippine Mass

“When they arrived on Good Friday, they were harvesting rice for two days, that means to say, the place where
they went was the Mazaua, not in Limasawa but somewhere in Mindanao. Because they harvested for two days,
what can you harvest in Limasawa when there was nothing [there]?” said Father Joesilo Amalla

“More than a hundred of people helped in the harvest, meaning it was a huge agricultural area. I’ve been to
Limasawa a lot of times. They have said that the rice harvested came from the surrounding island, and they said
they have harvested in the island itself. So their claim is wrong,” Amalla added.
Malvar said Mazaua, an island near Butuan, was replaced with the word Limasawa in the preface of the “First
Voyage Around the World” by James Alexander Robertson and Emma Helen Blair that was published in
December 1907.

The “bull’s eye” against Limasawa was the three actions that Pigafetta recounted but were deleted in the
Gancayco report: “The ships fired all their artillery at once when the body of Christ was elevated, the signal
having been [given] from the shore with muskets.”
These, Malvar said, could not be done all at the same time in Limasawa because Magellan’s shrine and landing
are 700 meters apart.
The authentic Pigafetta manuscript has no word Limasawa, Malvar said, attributing the change to a third editor,
Edward Gaylord Bourne.

Malvar said the evidence that Mazaua Island existed was a 1683 map by Augustinian Recolletos. The island
disappeared in a 1902 map because earthquakes had fused it with the mainland while siltation by floods filled it.
The present day Mazaua is thought to be Barangay Masao, one of the 85 villages of Butuan City.

While the law, and lately, the NHCP recognize the island of Limasawa as the real location of the First
Mass in the Philippines, the people of Butuan are still holding on to their claim. Now, examine table 1
and table 2 (from your answer above) and reflect on which place really has an assertion of the title.

The question now for you to answer is this, if the debate will be resolved, what would be the
significance/value to either of these places to finally be declared as the True site of the First Catholic
Mass? Write one answer to each of the following:

A. Symbolic value of carrying the title “The Site of the First Catholic Mass in the Philippines”

• The first Catholic mass in Philippines was carried out in a place in Magallanes, Limasawa Island in the
province of Leyte. This place was declared a national shrine to remember the birth of Christianity in
Philippines. It Is also symbolically Important because It was where today’s Catholic Church was born.

B. Practical value of carrying the title “The Site of the First Catholic Mass in the Philippines”

• The site of the first Catholic mass would be maintained and the government would take great care
of it. It may also serve as an important landmark or perhaps a religious tourist attraction.

References:
Bernad, Miguel A. Butuan or Limasawa: The Site of the First Mass in the Philippines: A Re-
examination of the Evidence. Budhi: A Journal of Ideas and Culture, [S.l.], v. 5, n. 3 6.1, p. 133-
166, jan. 2013. ISSN 2243-7886.
Available at: https://journals.ateneo.edu/ojs/index.php/budhi/article/view/582/579>. Date
accessed: 09 Jun. 2020.

Pigafetta, A. & Maximilianus,T. (1969). First Voyage Around the World and De Moluccis
Insulis. Manila: Filipiniana Book Guild (pp. 23-32)
R.A. 2733 Downloaded from:
https://www.chanrobles.com/republicacts/republicactno2733.html#.XuCZLNQzbMw

Extracts from: A Derrotero or Log-book of the Voyage of Fernando de Magallanes in

Search of the Strait, From the Cape of St. Augustin. Francisco Albo, 1519.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_First_Voyage_Round_the_World/Log-
Book_of_Francisco_Alvo_or_Alvaro

Official Position of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines on the Site of the
1521 Easter Sunday Mass". National Historical Commission of the Philippines. August 19,
2020.
Mojares, Resil B.; Gerona, Danilo M.; Navarro, Francis M.; Álvarez-Piñer, Carlos Madrid; De
Castro, Antonio Francisco B.; Torres, Jose Victor Z. (January 9, 2020). The Final Report of
the Mojares Panel on the Butuan-Limasawa Controversy on the Location of the 1521 First
Easter Sunday Mass in the Philippines. Available at
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1287Hgn99grWCdH2MaL2defFx6Ssq7QUH/view