The Site of the First Mass

The first Catholic mass in the Philippines was held in March 31, 1521, but is an issue
where it was celebrated. The beginning of Christianity in the Philippines is a controversy
because some historians are actually pushing for the recognition of Masau in Butuan City as the
real site. Yet they have evidences/conclusion that the site of the first mass where celebrated in
Limawasa, Southern Leyte. Here are some evidence of the first mass celebrated between the
two places/site in the Philippines, it is a portion of Pigafetta’s accounts of his book The First
Voyage Around the World, where he joined the expedition to the Spice Islands led by explorer
Ferdinand Magellan, he served as Magellan’s assistant and kept an accurate journal of their
journey, also he was one of the 18 man out of 240 who returned to Spain in 1522.

In 1872, a monument to commemorate the site of the first mass on the Philippines was
erected in Butuan. In 1953, the people in Butuan ask the Philippine Historical Committee to
rehabilitate the monument or place a marker on the site. Gregorio Zaide a Filipino historian,
author and politician from the town of Pagsajan, Laguna in the Philippines, claims the location of
the first mass is Butuan base on Pigafetta’s account. American historian Emma Helen Blair and
John Alexander Robertson claimed in 1909 that the island of Mazaua is the present island of
Limawasa but did not give explaination. According to primary records, the expedition traveled 20
to 25 leagues from Homonhon, the first landing point. If they have been to Limawasa Isaland,
the distance is only 14.6 leagues or one-half of the length. The relevance of the Masao, to
Pigafetta’s account, Mazaua.

Francisco Albo’s Log Book one of the point in the voyage of Magellan, who is included in
18 survivors, writes his book that they erected a cross on a mountain that overlooks the island.
Jesuit Priest Miguel A. Bernand, studied Pigafetta’s maps and notice that in Pigafetta’s jounal
he didn’t mention the crucial aspect of Butuan – the river, which makes a distinct characteristics
of Butuan’s geography that seemed to be much important to be missed. In 1996, The first ever
Christian Mass in the country on March 31, 15221 was celebrated in the island of Limawasa,
South of Leyte and not in Butuan City, declared the National Institute.

Therefore, the First Catholic Mass in the Philippines was held on March 31, 1521, Easter
Sunday. It was officiated by a priest named Father Pedro Valmaderra in the shore of Mazaua in
Pigafetta’s journal, whom people believe popularlyy know as this the town as the birth place
church in the Philippines.