Write True if the statement is correct, otherwise, write false.

____ 1. The name of the island in sight as Magellan arrived on March

16, 1521 is Mazau.
____2. Antonio Pigafetta wrote the book “First Voyage around the
world.”
____3. The first holy Mass in the Philippines was celebrated on
March 31, 1521
____4. Ferdinand Magellan is a Spanish Navigator
____5. Ferdinand Magellan died in Mactan.

1
THE SITE OF THE
FIRST MASS
in the Philippines
 LEARNING OUTCOMES

✣ 1. Frame a critical analysis of the given work

✣  
✣ 2. Assess the historical significance of a given
work

3
 Historical analysis:

the HISTORICAL
INTERPRETATION

and
MULTIPERSPECTIVITY.

4
 Geoffrey Barraclough noted
that the history we read is not
factual at all but a series of
accepted judgements. That’s
why the premise that primary
sources are not accessible to
HISTORICAL all of us.
INTERPRETATION
and So we could simply say that
MULTIPERSPECTIVITY
interpretation of primary
source5 differ on who read it,
BUTUAN or LIMASAWA?

6
Some Historians are actually pushing the recognition of
Masau in Butuan as the first site of the mass while
others argue that it was celebrated in Limasawa
(southern Leyte) because for almost three centuries,
Butuan has long been believed to be the site of the
first Mass but before the twentieth century with the
emergence of different scholars of history and with the
increased of available evidences it shed light to a much
more accepted interpretation of the place first holy mass.

7
8
 BUTUAN
TRADITION
9
✣ One of the historians was Father
Francisco Colin S.J. (1592-1660)
whose Labor evangelica was first
published in Madrid in 1663, three
years after his death.

10
 ✣ Some historian believe that Fr. Colin probably read the book of
TRADITION Magellan expedition due to the similarity of some of the places
and events that was written on his work and of the work of
BUTUAN

Pigafetta.
✣ The only unclear statement in his work as most historians now
would say is that he claimed that Magellan first went to
Butuan and celebrated the first mass there before going to
Limasawa.
✣ Other Historians, also believe that the rich economy of Butuan
will be a big factor for Magellan to decide to stay there and
celebrate the event.

11
Evidence of limasawa
12
Historians rely on the two of the
available primary source on voyage of
Magellan:

• Log book of Francisco Albo - a pilot

of one of Magellan’s ship

• Book written by Antonio Pigafetta

13
 FRANCISCO ALBO

✣ Was born about 1475 in Italy

✣ A pilot of Magellan’s flagship
✣ Owner of the log-book used in First Voyage
around the World
✣ One of the 18 survivors of Magellan Expedition
✣ Wrote the account of their entry into Philippine
waters.
✣ His account supported the work of Pigafetta.

14
 The First Voyage Around the
World

✣ Saturday, 16 March 1521 – Magellan’s expedition

sighted a highland named Zamal which was some
300 leagues westward of Ladrones Islands.
✣ Sunday, 17 March – after sighting Zamal Island
they landed on another island which was
uninhabited. The name of this island is “Humunu” (
Homonhon)

15
 The First Voyage Around the
World

✣ There were two springs of water on that island of

Homonhon. Also they saw there some indications
that there was a gold in these islands. Consequently,
Magellan renamed the island and called it the
“watering Place of good omen” (Acquada la di
bouni segnialli)
✣ Magellan’s expedition stayed eight days at
Homonhon: from March 17 to March 25.

16
 The First Voyage Around the
World

✣ The route taken by the expedition after

leaving Homonhon was toward the west
southwest between four island: namely,
Cenalo (Silago), Hiunanghan
(Hinunangan), Ibusson (Hibusong) and
Albarien. Hibuson is an island east of
Leyte’s southern Tip.

17
 The First Voyage Around the
World
✣ Thursday, 28 March – They anchored off an island
where the previous night they had seen a light or a
bonfire. That island “lies in a latitude of nine and
two-thirds towards the Arctic 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”

18
 The First Voyage Around the
World
✣ Saturday, 30 March – Pigafetta and his companion
had spent the previous evening feasting and
drinking with the native King and his son.
✣ Sunday, 31 March – Magellan sent the priest ashore
with some men to prepare for the Mass. Later in the
morning, Magellan landed with some fifty men and
Mass was celebrated, after which a cross was
venerated.

19
 The First Voyage Around the
World

✣ Thursday, 4 April – They left mazaua

bound for Cebu (Zubu). Their route took
them past five islands namely Ceylon,
Bohol, Canighan, Baibai and Gatighan.
✣ At Gatighan, they sailed westward to the
three islands of the camotes group namely
Poro, Pasihan and Ponson.

20
 The First Voyage Around the
World

✣ From the Camotes islands they sailed

southwards to Zubu
✣ Sunday, 7 April – At noon they entered the
harbor of Zubu. With the Route from
Mazaua northwards to Camotes islands
then southwards to Cebu.

21
Important parts of
the readings
22
✣ Pigafetta tells us that it was held on Easter
Sunday, the 31st of March 1521, on an
island called “Mazaua.”

✣ Two native chieftains were in attendance:

the rajah of Mazaua and the rajah of
Butuan

23
✣ After the Mass the party went up a little
hill and planted a wooden cross upon its
summit

✣ The subject of controversy is

the identity of this place which
Pigafetta calls “Mazaua.”

24
✣ One school of thought points to the little island
south of Leyte which in the maps is called
Limasawa.

✣ The other school rejects that claim and points

instead to the beach called Masao at the
mouth of the Agusan River in northern
Mindanao, near what was then the village
(now the city) of Butuan.

25
PEOPLE INVOLVED
26
✣ One of the historians was Father
Francisco Colin S.J. (1592-1660)
whose Labor evangelica was first
published in Madrid in 1663, three
years after his death.

27
✣ The other Jesuit writer was Father
Francisco Combes S.J. (1620-1665)
who had lived and work as a
missionary in the Philippines, and
whose Historia de Mindanao y Jolo
was printed in Madrid in 1667, two
years after Colin’s work was published.

28
 ✣ It is to noted that Colin and Combes picture Magellan as
visiting both Butuan and Limasawa.

TRADITION
BUTUAN
✣ In Colin’s account, Magellan went first to

Butuan Limasawa Cebu

✣ Combes, on the other hand, mentions two visits to Limasawa: in

his version, Magellan went to

Limasawa Butuan Limasawa Cebu

29
30
 ✣ Both Colin and Combes agree that Magellan arrived
in Cebu on 7th of April 1521: that is to say, on the
TRADITION Octave of Easter, or one week after the first mass
BUTUAN

which was supposed to have been celebrated at

Butuan.

31
 ✣ 18th Century

TRADITION
BUTUAN
✣ One of Combes statement which was repeated oftenest by subsequent
writer was his remark that the Stair of Siargao lies “between” that
island of Leyte, and that the Strait of Limasawa is “at the mouth” or
“entrance” of that Strait. A glance at the map will show that the
statement was not altogether accurate.

✣ Colin does not say that Magellan first sighted the Cape of San Agustin
and then sailed northwards along the Pacific coast of Mindanao,
rounded Siargao point, and sailed westward to Butuan.

32
 ✣ One of the major historians was the Augustinian; fray
TRADITION Juan de la Concepcion (1724-1787) whose 14-
BUTUAN
volume History of the Philippines was published in
Manila shortly after his death.

✣ He seems to think that the islands called “Las Velas”

and the Marianas Islands and the Archipelago of San
Lazaro were all one and the same thing.

33
TRADITION ✣ 19th Century
BUTUAN

✣ As late as the 1920’s the textbook in Philippine

History is use at the Ateneo de Manila accepted
the Butuan Tradition, although it took care to
correct previous authors’ mistakes concerning
the Marianas Islands.

34
THE SHIFT
OPINION
35
 How then did the shift in opinion –from Butuan to
THE SHIFT
OPINION Limasawa– come about?

✣ The shift in opinion from Butuan to Limasawa was

due to a rediscovery and a more attentive study of
two primary sources on the subject: namely,
Pigafetta’s account and Albo’s log.

36
THE SHIFT What the effect of that study was may be seen in the change in Pastell’s
thinking?
OPINION
✣ Pastells had collaborated with Retana in a new edition of Combes.
Retana had accepted the Butuan tradition, neither Retana nor Pastells
showed any sign of change of opinion.
✣ Meanwhile, however, Pastells was preparing his own edition of
Francisco Colin’s Labor evangelica. While preparing that edition,
Pastells had occasion to restudy both Pigafetta and Albo, and it was
then that he realized that the 3-century Butuan tradition had been
erroneous.

37
EVIDENCE FOR
LIMASAWA
38
 Evidence For LIMASAWA
3. Summary of the evidence of 2. The evidence of
Albo and Pigafetta Pigafetta

1. The evidence of
Albo’s Log-Book
a. Pigafetta’s testimony
regarding the route
b. The evidence of
Pigafetta’s map
c. The two native kings
d. The seven days at
4. Confirmatory evidence from the “Mazaua”
Legazpi expedition e. An argument from
omission

39
 1.
THE EVIDENCE OF
ALBO’S LOG-BOOK
 FRANCISCO ALBO

✣ He joined the Magellan expedition as a

pilot (“contra maestre”) in Magellan’s
flagship “Trinidad”
✣ He was one of the eighteen survivors who
returned with Sebastian Elcano on the
“Victoria”
✣ Albo began keeping his own diary, merely
only a log book.
41
 ✣ In Albo’s testimony, the island he calls Gada seems
to be the Acquada of Pigafetta (Pigafetta’s
Albo’s Log-Book
The Evidence Of
testimony) or Homonhon where they took supplies
water and wood. The island of Seilani (Pigafetta calls
it “Ceylon”) which they coasted is the island of
Leyte. Then turning southwest they came upon a
small island named, Mazaua, which lies at a latitude
of 9 and two-thirds degrees North. That fits the island
called Limasawa, south of Leyte.

42
 2.
THE EVIDENCE FROM
PIGAFETTA
ANTONIO PIGAFETTA
(1491-1534)
✣ entitled Primo viaggio intomo al mondo (First
Voyage around the world)
✣ Like Albo, he was also a member of the expedition
and was the eyewitness of the principal events,
including the first mass.
✣ Of Pigafetta’s work there are two excellent English
translations, one is James Alexander Robertson (from
the Italian) and another by R.A. Skelton (from the
French).
44
ANTONIO PIGAFETTA
(1491-1534)

✣ He narrates the events from the 16th of

March 1521 when they first sighted the
island of the Philippines. Up to the 7th of
April after the expedition landed at Cebu.

45
 a.) Pigafetta’s Testimony regarding the Route
From Pigafetta
The Evidence

✣ The route of Magellan’s expedition as described by

Pigafetta coincides substantially and in most details
with the route as described in Albo’s log. The
southernmost point reached before getting to Cebu
was Mazaua, situated at nine and two-thirds degrees
North latitude.

46
 b.) The Evidence of Pigafetta’s Maps
From Pigafetta
The Evidence

✣ Pigafetta was no cartographer and his maps had

probably no value as navigational charts. But they
are extremely useful in helping to identify the islands
which he mentions in the narrative, and help to
establish the relative positions of those islands.

47
 b.) The Evidence of Pigafetta’s Maps
From Pigafetta 1. Mazaua (Mazzana in the map) is a small island
The Evidence
which lies off the southwestern tip of the larger
island Ceilon (Southern Leyte)
2. The island of Mazaua in Piagafetta’s map, lies in a
position equivalent to the actual position of the
island of Limasawa.
3. In no way can Mazaua be identified with Butuan,
which is in another and much bugger island
Mindanao.
48
49
50
 c.) THE TWO KINGS
From Pigafetta ✣ There is confirmatory evidence in the presence of the
The Evidence
two native “kings” or rajahs at Mazaua during the
Magellan visit.
✣ One was the king of Mazaua and other was a relative
“one of his brothers” as Pigafetta says, namely the
king or rajah of Butuan.

51
 c.) THE TWO KINGS
From Pigafetta ✣ Rajah of Butuan was a visitor to Mazaua, his territory
The Evidence
was Butuan which was in another island. The island
of his was called Butuan and Calagan. When the
kings wished to see one another, they went to hunt in
that island where we were. The island “where we
were” was Mazaua. Therefore Mazaua could not
have been Butuan.

52
 d.) Seven Days at Mazaua
From Pigafetta
The Evidence

✣ In the island of “Mazaua” which according to both

Pigafetta and Albo was initiated at a latitude of nine
and two-thirds degrees North, the Magellan
expedition stayed a week. “We remained there seven
days” Pigafetta says. The Mass on Easter Sunday was
celebrated on the island of Mazaua, and not in
Butuan or elsewhere.

53
 e.) An argument from Omission
From Pigafetta
The Evidence

✣ If “Mazaua” were Butuan, or in the vicinity of

Butuan, there is a curious omission in Pigafetta’s
account. Butuan is a riverine settlement and is
situated on the Agusan River. The fact that there is no
mention of the river is a significant fact in Pigafetta’s
account of their seven-day at “Mazaua”. Mazaua was
an island surrounded by sea, not a river delta.

54
 3.
Summary of the Evidence of
Albo and Pigafetta
Albo and Pigafetta
✣ Taking the evidence of Albo’s log-book together
Summary of the
with that from Pigafetta’s account. The island
Evidence of
Mazaua lies at a latitude of nine and two-thirds
degreed North. Corresponds to the position and
latitude of Limasawa, whose southern tip lies at
9 degrees and 54 minutes North.

56
 4.
The Legazpi Expedition
TH E LE GAZ PI
EXPEDITION ✣ As pilots of the Legazpi expedition understood
it, Mazaua was an island near Leyte and
Panaon. Butuan was on the island of
Mindanao. The two were entirely different
places and in no wise identical.

58
THE GEOGRAPHY
“MAZAOA”
59
THE GEOGRAPHY ✣ The question may be asked: If “Mazaua” is the little
“M A Z A U A” island of Limasawa, why did Magellan go there?
Why go to an insignificant little island; why not
instead to the larger island?

60
THE GEOGRAPHY ✣ The answer must be sought in geography. He was coasting

“M A Z A U A” southward down the eastern coast of Leyte (Albo’s “Seilani”;

Pigafetta’s “Geylon”) with Hibuson Island on his left. When his
ships wounded the tip of Panaon, the wind was blowing
westward from the Pacific. The east wind is strong. It is what
the people of Limasawa call the “Dumagsa”, the east wind.
Magellan’s vessels would find themselves going west or south-
west, toward the island of Limasawa.

61
THE GEOGRAPHY ✣ If the island of Limasawa is the “Mazaua” of Pigafetta and the

“M A Z A U A”
“Masava” of Albo, why then is it now called Limasawa? Were
Pigafetta and Albo wrong? Or were the historians and map-
makers wrong from the 17th century onward?

✣ We do not have the answer to that question. Except to

state that in the southern part of Leyte, the island is
still referred to by the fisherfolk as “Masaoa”, not
Limasawa.

62
 WHY THEN THE
BUTUAN TRADITION?
63
 How then did the strong three-century tradition in favor of
BUTUAN TRADITION? Butuan arises?
WHY THEN THE

First, it must be remembered that the tradition is based on

second hand information. One author repeats what previous
author have written, and is in turn copied by subsequent
authors.

64
 ✣ How then did the strong three-century tradition in
BUTUAN TRADITION? favor of Butuan arises?
WHY THEN THE

✣ A second reason is suggested by Pastells. Magellan

and his men got to know the rajah of Butuan at
Masaua. According to Pigafetta, that rajah was at
Masaua only on a visit. The fact that Magellan had
known the rajah of Butuan could be misunderstood

65
BUTUAN TRADITION?
✣ How then did the strong three-century tradition in
favor of Butuan arises?
WHY THEN THE

✣ There is a third reason. It must be remembered that the Butuan

tradition, while erroneous as to the site of the first mass, is not
entirely without validity. Magellan’s expedition visited several
places in Mindanao, including Butuan. From the tradition that
“Magellan visited Butuan,” it is easy for incautious historians to
conclude that “therefore the first mass must have been
celebrated at Butuan.”

66
THE IMPORTANCE
OF BUTUAN
67
IMPORTANCE OF
✣ Was the first mass on Philippines was it celebrated at
Butuan or Limasawa?
BUTUAN
✣ To reject the Butuan claim is in no way to downgrade
the cultural or historical importance of Butuan.
Indeed, it is about time that Philippine historians and
students of Philippine culture should awaken to the
importance of Butuan in prehistoric days.

68
IMPORTANCE OF
✣ Pigafetta himself is a witness to that importance. The
king of Butuan, he says, “was the finest looking man
BUTUAN that we saw among those people.”

✣ Butuan’s importance is underlined by the fact that it

was the first place in Mindanao where a Christian
mission was established. It was served, first by the
Jesuits and later by the Augustinian Recollects.

69
IMPORTANCE OF
✣ In the event, despite the resolution of 1953, the Historical
Committee apparently did nothing to rehabilitate the Butuan
monument. The benchmark of the U.S. naval survey of 1905
BUTUAN was still there. But the original marble slab of 1872 had been
removed.

✣ That monument should be preserved. In its own right it is a

historic artifact. But the historical error in the 1872 inscription
should be pointed out for what it is: a historical error.

70
 IMPORTANCE OF
BUTUAN

71
The verdict
72
 "The panel recommended that
Limasawa Island, Southern
Leyte, be sustained as the site of
the 1521 Easter Sunday Mass,"
the commission concluded on their
findings.

"The panel (Mojares 6) unanimously agreed that the evidences and

arguments presented by the pro-Butuan advocates are not sufficient
and convincing enough to warrant the repeal or reversal of the ruling on
the case by the NHI (National Historical Institute)," the NHCP panel
said, citing the previous rulings made by the commission's forerunner
National Historical Institute in 1995 and 2008 affirming Limasawa as the
true site of the first Catholic mass in the country
73
The national historical commission also studied the 1895
journal articles of historians Trinidad Pardo de Tavera and
Pablo Pastells, SJ, which revisited Pigafetta’s accounts and
emphasized that Limasawa, not Butuan, as the site of
the first Catholic mass in the country.

The 1971 expedition of naval historian Samuel Eliot Morison

and Colombian historian Mauricio Obregon and the
accounts of Spanish naval engineer Ignacio Fernandez Vial
and merchant marine captain Jose Luis Ugarte retraced the
Magellan-Elcano voyage and concluded that Limasawa is
the site of the first Catholic mass in the country, the
NHCP found out in its study. 74
• The country’s first Catholic mass was
officiated by Fr. Pedro Valderrama on
March 31, 1521, upon orders of Portugese
explorer Ferdinand Magellan.
• The Limasawa mass marked the birth of
Roman Catholicism in the country, which
remains as the nation's dominant religion in
the country up to present.
https://www.cnn.ph/news/2020/8/20/NHCP-affirms-Limasawa-Island-as-site-of-first-
Catholic-mass-in-the-country.html
76
77
78
 Pigafetta noted that Mazaua was 25
leagues away from Acquada (i.e.,
Homonhon). Butuan is already 35.56
leagues (197.95 kms) away from
Homonhon (an island in Guiuan, Eastern
Samar) compare to Limasawa, which is
23.99 leagues (133.58 kms), thus, close
enough to what Pigafetta had recorded.
The chronicler also recorded Mazaua at
9 2/3 (9º 40’N latitude in modern
reading), Albo placed it at 9 1/3 (9º20’N
latitude), and the Genoese Pilot wrote 9
(9º00’N latitude). Even a layman can
confirm the coordinates of Limasawa by
simply Googling it and the result will be
a 9°54’ N latitude. Although the
navigational coordinates during his
period were just estimates, Pigafetta’s
9º40’N latitude was still closer to
Limasawa than to Butuan which, using
the modern coordinates, is located at
79 8°56’ N latitude.
Write True if the statement is correct, otherwise, write false.
____ 1. The name of the island in sight as Magellan arrived on March
16, 1521 is
Mazau.
____2. Antonio Pigafetta wrote the book “First Voyage around the
world.”
____3. The first holy Mass in the Philippines was celebrated on
March 31, 1521
____4. Ferdinand Magellan is a Spanish Navigator
____5. Ferdinand Magellan died in Mactan.

80
Thank You!

81