The introduction of Christianity on Philippine shores is generally

linked to the celebration of the first Holy Mass. But for the past
centuries, innumerable numbers of Filipinos including the top experts
in education, history, religion, politics and other subjects are still
debating as to where the exact location of the ‘First Mass’ on Easter
Sunday where both Butuan City and Limasawa claim to be the venue
of this historical religious site. It was on March 31, 1521, when the
first Mass in the Philippines was celebrated by Pedro Valderama, a
priest with the Magellan expedition.

Numerous trials and findings conducted by the National

Historical Institute (NHI) prove that the most credible and reliable
source about the birthplace of Christianity in the Philippines was
written in the account of Antonio Pigafetta entitled “First Voyage
Around the World." This account was reported by a principal
eyewitness to the event and describes the lives of early navigators,
descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records
of the Catholic missions, and the political, economic, commercial, and
religious conditions of the country. It contains two essential points
that made the first mass in the Philippines happen in Limasawa, not in
Butuan.

The first point is the testimony of the route and map made by
Pigafetta about “Mazaua Island,” where the first mass happened.
Limasawa is an island lying off the southwestern tip of Leyte, while
Butuan is a city located in Caraga Region. In line with this, Mazaua is
located at a latitude of nine and two-thirds towards the Arctic pole
and a longitude of one hundred and sixty-two degrees from the line of
demarcation. The description of the island where the first mass took
place in Pigafetta’s account is deemed to fit the island of Limasawa,
an island on the southern tip of Leyte with a coordinate of nine
degrees and fifty-four degrees north.

The second point is the confirmatory evidence in the presence of

two powerful kings when Magellan visited the island, the King of
Mazaua and the King of Butuan. The fact is that the latter is a visitor
to Mazaua, and his territory is on Butuan, which is a separate island.
So it can be said that Mazaua is not Butuan.

In an article entitled “Butuan or Limasawa? The Site of the First

Mass in the Philippines: A Reexamination of the Evidence”, which
Father Miguel Bernard, S.J. authored. Fr. Miguel was a professor and
researcher of Saint Xavier University, Cagayan de Oro in Minadanao
who went to Mazaua, Butuan City and Limasawa, Southern Leyte to
study the Mass held during Magellan’s expedition. He conducted
research works in Spain and other places related to Magellan’s Mass.
In his research, he discovered in the map of Pigafetta that Mazaua
was placed in the southern tip of Leyte. The maps will show that this
jibes with Limasawa, not in Butuan. Then, he came into a conclusion
that Magellan and his co-explorers landed and hels the Mass in Limas

awa, Southern Leyte.

 Moreover, the Evidence of Albo’s Log Book shows that Albo
joined the Magellan expedition as a pilot in Magellan’s flagship. Albo
began keeping his own diary—merely a logbook—on the voyage out
while they were sailing in South America. His account of their entry
into Philippine waters. Events that were recorded in his manuscript
correlated with Pigafetta’s. It was mentioned in Albo’s Log Book about
the planting of the cross, which happened after the mass, upon a
mountaintop from which could be seen three islands to the west and
southwest. Further, this description fits the southern end of
Limasawa. It does not fit the coast of Butuan, from which no islands
could be seen to the south or the southwest, but only towards the
north.

However, 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 hereby declared a national shrine to commemorate the
birth of Christianity in the Philippines. Contrary with this, President
Carlos P. Garcia did not sign the law because he was not sure of the
fact that the “Mazaua” in the Pigafetta Codex is really Limasawa. It
was the American historian Emma Helen Blair and John Alexander
Robertson who claimed in 1909 that the island of Mazaua is the
present island of Limasawa without giving any explanation for the
identification.