Week 7

THE SITE OF THE

FIRST MASS IN THE
PHILIPPINES
 Outline of the lesson
01 The primary sources can be classified into the
following categories:
02 "First Mass" in Limasawa: Fact or
opinion?
03 Chronology from Pigafetta's memoirs:
 THE PRIMARY
SOURCES CAN BE
CLASSIFIED INTO
THE FOLLOWING
CATEGORIES:
Confidential Reports:

❑ Confidential reports are not intended for

a general audience and are less reliable
than contemporary sources (Modules,
n.d.)
❑ These reports are generally in military
and diplomatic dispatches, journals,
diaries or memoirs, and personal letters.
Contemporary Records:
❑ “ These primary sources are instruction documents,
stenographic and phonographic records, business and legal
papers, autobiographies, etc.
❑ They may even be in the form of appointment notifications and
direction from a foreign office to the ambassador (Aggarwal,
n.d.).
❑ Generally, such records have a minimal chance of error, but it
is essential to ascertain their authenticity.
❑ The business and legal letters consist of the bills, journals,
leases, wills, and tax records, which provide insights into the
work of firms and persons (Modules, n.d.)
❑ Autobiographies are credible sources of history because they
are close to the events they d
Public Reports:

❑ Public reports are meant for the general public, and are
much less reliable (Modules, n.d.)
❑ They have three types, each of which possessing a
different degree of reliability.
❑ Newspaper reports and dispatches, which depend upon
the agency from which it originated and the newspaper in
which it is published, is reliable.
❑ Memoirs and autobiographies are written for the public
at the close of life when the author’s memoirs are fading
and unreliable.
❑ Official histories of the activities of government or
business house are also an important kind of public
report (Discussion, n.d.)
Government Documents:

❑ Numerous government documents are also a

source of vital importance to historians.
❑ These documents include statistics about the
fiscal, census, and essential matters that
historians can reference.
❑ All these reports have first-hand importance
but require proper evaluation before use
(Modules, n.d.).
 Public Opinion:

❑ As expressed in editorials, speeches,

pamphlets, and letters to the editor, public
opinion is another important source available
to the historian.
❑ Still, its authenticity must be corroborated by
other evidence because public opinion may not
always be reliable.
 Folklores and Proverbs:
❑ Folklores reveal the stories of legendary heroes and are
an essential source of history.
❑ They tell us about the aspirations, superstitions, and
customs of the people among whom the stories developed
(Discussion, n.d.). Folklores include “Alla-Uddal” the hero
Rajputana.
❑ To use these folklores, the historian should possess a
thorough knowledge of the history of the period and have
the ability to distinguish between the legendary and
authentic elements.
❑ Similarly, proverbs can give us an idea, but scholars must
know the customs and traditions (Modules, n.d.).
 First Mass"
in
Limasawa:
Written by Buddy Gomez on August 17, 2019
 First Mass" in Limasawa
❑ The first documented Catholic Mass in the
Philippines was held on March 31, 1521, Easter Sunday
.
❑ It was conducted by Father Pedro de Valderrama of
Ferdinand Magellan's expedition along the shores of
what was referred to in the journals of
Antonio Pigafetta as "Mazaua".
❑ Today, this site is widely believed by many historians
and the government to be Limasawa off the tip of
Southern Leyte,
❑ However, until at least the 19th century, the prevailing
belief was that the first mass was held in Butuan
 First Mass" in Limasawa

Magellan came to Homonhon before Limasawa.

❑ That "First Mass" celebrated on Philippine soil
was neither in Agusan nor Southern Leyte.
❑ the Mass on Easter Sunday ever celebrated
without first observing Palm Sunday, which was a
week before it?
❑ the first-ever Christian mass on Philippine soil
on March 31, 1521, was celebrated in the island of
Limasawa."
Antonio Pigafetta, which is "the most complete
and reliable account of Magellan's expedition."
 First Mass" in Limasawa
1. Pigafetta (English translation from Blair &
Robertson) wrote the following: "Early on the
morning of Sunday, the last of March and Easter
day, the Captain-General sent the priest with
some men to prepare the place where mass was
to be said." Indeed,
2. the first mention of Mass being celebrated since
arriving in the islands they had just named "the
archipelago of San Lazaro."
3. The voyage of Magellan from San Lucar de
Barrameda to "the archipelago of San Lazaro"
spanned for one year, six months, and a couple
of weeks.
 First Mass" in Limasawa

❑ Between Magellan's voyage up to their arrival in

Zubu (Cebu), Pigafetta only recorded five masses
being held. the first mention of Mass being
celebrated since arriving in the islands they had
just named "the archipelago of San Lazaro."
❑ other masses must have been held throughout
the voyage, but Pigafetta must have also failed
to record them. We also have to consider that
Magellan's crew is composed of three priests.
 First Mass" in Limasawa
❑ While along the coast of Verzin (Brazil),
Pigafetta wrote the following: "mass was said
twice onshore, during which those people
(natives) remained on their knees.“
❑ In the Patagonian port of San Julian, he wrote
the following: "April 1 (1520) Palm Sunday,
Magallanes summoned all his captains, officers,
and pilots, to go ashore to hear mass…."
❑ The fourth instance was when they were in
Limasawa, and the fifth was when they reached
Zubu.
 First Mass" in Limasawa

❑ Magellan anchored and stayed in

Humunu (Homonhon) for eight days, from
Sunday to Sunday, departing on March
25, 1521.
❑ After months of floating in the Pacific
seas, they finally landed on a Sunday.
❑ Pigafetta did not record anything on this
day.
❑ He also did not record their second
Sunday in Homonhon, which was Palm
 First Mass" in Limasawa
❑ While in the port of San Julian, Pigafetta recorded a
mass on Palm Sunday, which fell on April 1, 1520 (a year
earlier), but he did not mention holding a mass on Easter
Sunday.
❑ Pigafetta mentioned the Easter Sunday mass in Limasawa
but did not record Palm Sunday on their last full day in
Homonhon.

❑ Was Easter Sunday mass ever celebrated without

observing Palm Sunday?
❑ Or was Palm Sunday observed without a mass on Easter
Sunday?
 Here is the
chronology from
Pigafetta's
memoirs:
 Antonio Pigafetta
● was an Venetian scholar and
explorer.
● He joined the expedition to the
Spice Islands led by explorer
Ferdinand Magellan under the flag
of the emperor Charles V and after
Magellan's death in the Philippine
Islands, the subsequent voyage
around the world.
● Born: 1480, Vicenza, Italy
● Died: 1531, Vicenza, Italy
● Nationality: Italian, Venetian
● Known for: Chronicling
Magellan's circumnavigation
 Pigafetta's memoirs
⮚ 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."
⮚ The masses recorded by Pigafetta had two things in
common: they were both observed onshore with the
presence of the natives.
⮚ Homonhon, which is a barangay of the Municipality
of Guiuan in Eastern Samar, may have been neglected as
the true venue of the first Sunday mass in the Philippines,
which may have occurred either on March 17, 1521 or
March 24, 1521 (Palm Sunday), possibly due to failure in
historiographic interpretation.
 Thanks

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