CASE STUDY 1: Where Did the First Catholic Mass Take Place in the

Philippines?

I. Introduction

The popularity of knowing where the "firsts" happened in history

has been an accessible way of trivialized history. Still, this case

study will not focus on the significance of the First Catholic Mass

site in the Philippines. Instead, it will use it as a

historiographical exercise to utilize evidence and interpretation

in historical reading events.

Today, it is widely believed by many historians and the

government to be Limasawa at the tip of Southern Leyte. However,

this was contested by some who assert that the first Mass was instead

held at Masao, Butuan.

Toward the end of the nineteenth century and the start of the

twentieth century, more nuanced reading of the available evidence

was made. Together with the increasing scholarship on the

Philippines' history, which brought to light more considerations

in going against the more accepted interpretation of the first Mass

in the Philippines, caused both by Spanish and Filipino scholars.

It must be noted that there are only two primary sources that

historians refer to identifying the site of the first Mass. One

is the log kept by Francisco Albo, a pilot one of Magellan's ship,

Trinidad. He was one of the survivors who returned with Sebastian

Elcano on board the vessel Victoria after they circumnavigated the

world. The other, and the more complete, was the account by

Pigafetta, First Voyage Around the World. Pigafetta, like Albo,

was a member of the Magellan expedition and an eyewitness of the

events, particularly, of the first Mass.

II. Body

Landing on Philippine shores

When Ferdinand Magellan and his European crew sailed from San

Lucar de Barrameda to search for spices, these explorers landed

on the Philippines after their Voyage from other proximate areas.

On March 28, 1521, while at sea, they saw a bonfire, which turned

out to be Mazaua (believed to be today's Limasawa), where they

anchored.

To find out where the first Catholic Mass took place in the

Philippines, let's use the two sources used by historians. in these

two sources, critical analysis and viewing of information is

required.

Francisco Albo's Log: Route of Magellan's Expedition in the Island

of Saint Lazarus

On March 16, 1521, as they sailed in a westerly course from

Ladrones or known as Mariana Island at present, they saw land towards

the northwest, but they didn't land there due to shallow places

and later found its name as Yunagan. On that same day, they went

to a small island called Suluan, a part of Samar, and there they

anchored. Leaving from those two islands, they sailed westward to

the Island of Gada, where they took in a supply of wood and water

from that Island; they sailed towards the west to a large island

called Seilani (now Leyte).

The Account of Antonio Pigafetta: Route of Magellan's Expedition

in the Island of St. Lazarus

Antonio Pigafetta was a famous Italian traveler who studied

navigation and was known by Antonio Lombardo or Francisco Antonio

Pigafetta. He joined the Portuguese, Captain Ferdinand Magellan,

and his Spanish crew on their trip to Maluku Island.[7] Pigafetta

has the complete account of the Magellan expedition entitled Primo

Viaggio intorno al mondo (First Voyage worldwide). He was one of

the eighteen survivors who returned to Spain aboard the "Victoria"

and therefore considered an eyewitness of the significant events

on the first Mass. Magellan names it the Islands of Saint Lazarus

that is later called the Philippine Archipelago. Pigafetta narrated

on his account the events that happened from March 16, 1521, when

they first saw the Island of the Philippine group up to April 7,

1521, when the expedition landed on Cebu. On March 16, 1521, a "high

land" named "Zamal" was sighted by the Magellan's trek, which was

some 300 leagues westward of the Ladrones Islands.

On March 17, 1521, they landed on "uninhabited island" or known

as "Humunu" (Homonhon), which Pigafetta referred to as "Watering

place of good signs" because the place is abundant in gold. Humunu

lays right of Zamal at 10 degrees north latitude. They stayed there

eight days from March 17 to March 25, 1521. On March 25, 1521, they

left the Island of Homonhon and changed route towards west southwest,

between four islands: Cenalo, Hiunanghan, Ibusson, and Albarien.

Afterward, they sail westward towards Leyte, followed the Leyte

coast southward, passing between the Island of Ibusson on their

port side and Hiunangan bay on their starboard, and then continued

southward, the returning westward to Mazaua.

On March 28, 1521, an island that lies in 9 2/3 latitude towards

the arctic pole. A 100 longitude and 62 degrees from the demarcation

line. It is named Mazaua, which is 25 leagues from the Acquada.

On April 4, 1521, they left Mazaua bound for Cebu and guided by

their King, who sailed on his boat. Throughout their route, it took
them past five Island, namely: Ceylon, Bohol, Canighan, Baibai,

and Gatighan. They sailed from Mazaua west by northwest into the

Canigao channel, with Bohol island to port and Leyte and Canigao

islands to starboard. Then they continue sailing northwards along

the Leyte coast, past Baibai to Gatighan (it was 20 leagues from

Mazaua and 15 miles from Subu or Cebu. At Gatighan, they sailed

westward to the three Island of the Camotes group, namely: Poro,

Pasihan, and Ponson. From the Camotes Island, they sailed

southwestward towards "Zubu."

On April 7, they entered the harbor of "Zubu" (Cebu). It takes

them three days to negotiate the journey from Mazaua northwards

to the Camotes Islands and then southwards to Cebu. That was the

route of the Magellan expedition, as stated in the account of

Pigafetta. The southernmost point reached before getting to Cebu

was Mazaua, located at nine and two-thirds degrees North latitude.

First Mass

On March 31, 1521, an Easter Sunday, Magellan ordered a Mass

to be celebrated, officiated by Father Pedro Valderrama, the

Andalusian chaplain of the fleet, the only priest then. Conducted

near the shores of the Island, the First Holy Mass marked the birth

of Roman Catholicism in the Philippines. Colambu and Siaiu were

the first natives of the archipelago, which was not yet named

"Philippines" until Ruy Lopez de Villalobos in 1543, to attend the

Mass among other native inhabitants.

During the stay of Magellan and his crew in the inhabited Island

of Humunu, he argues that the "first mass" on Philippine soil was

not in "Agusan" nor Southern "Leyte." He pointed out Palm Sunday

must have been celebrated first before the Mass on Easter Sunday,

which is practiced today.

In the account of Pigafetta, Gomez noticed that he failed to

mention some points of the journey where the masses were held; one

example is when they were at the port of San Julian. Pigafetta said

about a gathering held on Palm Sunday, held on April 1, 1520, during

their Voyage to the west but never mentioned about Easter Sunday.

The same situation happened when the fleet arrived in the

Philippines. Pigafetta only said about the Easter Sunday Mass while

he is silent on the Palm Sunday.

For further investigation, some points at Pigafetta's account

was translated as follows: "At dawn on Saturday, March 16, 1521,

(feast of St. Lazarus, Gomez inserted) we came upon a highland at

a distance… an island named Zamal (Samar) the following day (March

17, Sunday) the captain-general desired to land on another island

(Humunu) …uninhabited… in order to be more secure and to get water

and have some rest. He had two tents set up on shore for the sick."

"On Monday, March 18, we saw a boat coming towards us with nine

men in it." "This marks our first human contact with Europeans...

giving signs of joy because of total." "At noon on Friday, March

22, those men came as they had promised." "And we lay eight days

in that place, where the captain every day visited the sick men

who he had put ashore on the island to recover."

Gomez observed the instance wherein Pigafetta had written about

the Mass said it had two things in common; they are 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. It first came out in an article

published in 1934 in Philippine Magazine featured by Percy Gil,

and once again featured by Bambi Harper in her column at the

Philippine Daily Inquirer back in 2004.

Planting of the cross

In the afternoon of the same day, Magellan instructed his

comrades to plant a large wooden cross on the top of the hill

overlooking the sea. Magellan's chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta, who

recorded the event said: "After the cross was erected in position,

each of us repeated a Pater Noster and an Ave Maria, and adored

the cross; and the kings [Colambu and Siaiu] did the same."

Magellan then took ownership of the islands where he had landed,

in the name of King Charles V, which he had named earlier on March

16, because it was the saint's day when the Armada reached the

archipelago.

In the Account of Francisco Albo, he did not mention the first

Mass in the Philippines but only the cross's planting upon a mountain

top from which could be seen three islands to the west and southwest,

where they were told there was much gold. It also fits the southern

end of Limasawa. It does not suit the coast of Butuan from which

no islands could be seen to the south or the southwest, but only

towards the north.

Proclamation of the National Shrine

On June 19, 1960, Republic Act No. 2733, called the Limasawa

Law, was enacted without Executive approval on June 19 1960. The

legislative fiat declared The site in Magallanes, Limasawa Island

in the Province of Leyte, where the first Mass in the Philippines

was held is now declared a national shrine to commemorate

Christianity's birth in the Philippines. Magallanes is east of the

island of Limasawa. In 1984 Imelda Marcos had a multi-million pesos

Shrine of the First Holy Mass built, a tower made of steel, bricks,

polished concrete, and erected on top of a hill overlooking barangay

Magallanes, Limasawa. A super typhoon completely wiped this out

just a few months later. Another shrine was inaugurated in 2005.

Limasawa celebrates the Spaniards' historical and religious

coming every March 31 with a cultural presentation and anniversary

program dubbed as Sinugdan, meaning "beginning," yet this has no

reference to a Catholic mass being held on March 31, 1521.

Masao

Some Filipino historians have long contested that Limasawa was

the first Catholic Mass site in the country. Historian Sonia Zaide

identified Masao (also Mazaua) in Butuan as the first Christian

Mass location. The basis of Zaide's claim is the diary of Antonio

Pigafetta, chronicler of Magellan's voyage. In 1995 then

Congresswoman Ching Plaza of Agusan del Norte-Butuan City filed

a bill in Congress contesting the Limasawa hypothesis and asserting

the "site of the first mass" was Butuan. The Philippine Congress

referred the matter to the National Historical Institute to study

the issue and recommend a historic finding. Then NHI chair Dr. Samuel

K. Tan reaffirmed Limasawa as the site of the first Mass.

Bolinao

Odoric of Pordenone, an Italian and Franciscan friar, and

missionary explorer, is heartily believed by many Pangasinenses

to have celebrated the first Mass in Pangasinan in around 1324 that

would have predated the Mass held in 1521 by Ferdinand Magellan.

In front of Bolinao Church, a marker states that the first Mass

on Philippine soil was celebrated in Bolinao Bay in 1324 by a

Franciscan missionary, Blessed Odorico.

However, there is scholarly doubt that Odoric was ever in the

Philippines. Ultimately, the National Historical Institute led by

its chair Ambeth Ocampo recognized the historical records of

Limasawa in Southern Leyte as the venue of the first Mass, held

on March 31, 1521.

III. Conclusion

In conclusion, the National Historical Institute first took

action on Limasawa-Butuan controversy in 1980 followed by creation

of two more panels in 1995 and 2008. The government has consistently

concluded Limasawa as the site of the first Easter Sunday Mass in

the country. Another panel led by prominent historian Resil B.

Mojares was formed in 2018 by now National Historical Commission

of the Philippines (NHCP) to further review continued claims in

favor of Butuan. The pro-Butuan group presented non-eyewitness

accounts decades after the Mass as their proofs. Meanwhile, the

pro-Limasawa group provided the panel coordinates of Mazaua given

by the eyewitnesses, studies and projects that retraced the

Magellan-Elcano expedition using modern navigational instruments,

and the copies of Pigafetta's original accounts.

Ahead of the quincentennial celebration of the Christianization

of the Philippines, the NHCP dismissed the Butuan claim due to

insufficient evidences to change the government's current position

and reaffirmed Limasawa as the site of the first Easter Sunday Mass

in the country.The panel also endorses the changes proposed by

historian Rolando Borrinaga to recognize Barangay Triana instead

of Barangay Magalles as the specific location in Limasawa of the

first Mass and Saub Point in Triana as the site of the cross planted

by the Magellan expedition.

IV. References

Valencia, Linda B. "Limasawa: Site of the First Mass". Philippines

News Agency. Ops.gov.ph. Archived from the original on 2007-10-15.

Retrieved 2007-11-12.

Rose Carmelle, Lacuata (August 20, 2020). "Limasawa, not Butuan:

Gov't historians affirm site of 1521 Easter Sunday mass in PH".

ABS-CBN News.

Borrinaga, Rolando O. (2007-04-14). "The right place for disputed

first Mass in Limasawa". Inquirer Visayas. Inquirer.net. Archived

from the original on 2009-02-13.

https://journals.ateneo.edu/ojs/index.php/budhi/article/view/5

82/579

https://www.scribd.com/document/429478178/Case-Study-1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Mass_in_the_Philippines

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1325039/limasawa-not-butuan-affi

rmed-as-site-of-first-mass-in-ph

https://prezi.com/ni9p-xd9vuhp/case-study-1/

https://www.coursehero.com/file/12405761/First-mass-in-the-phi

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