Site of the First Mass

The first recorded Christian mass was held on Easter Sunday, March 31, 1521 at a little island-
port named Mazaua. Two identical accounts report this event, by eyewitness Antonio (Pigafetta
(1523) and Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas (1601). "Masawa" is a word found only in
Butuanon and its scion, Tausug, out of 181 Philippine languages. It means brilliant light and
crystal clear.

Some Filipino historians have long contested the idea that Limasawa was the site of the first
Catholic mass in the country. Historian Sonia Zaide identified Masao (also Mazaua) in Butuan
as the location of the first Christian mass. 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 for it to study the issue and recommend a historical finding.
Then NHI chair Dr. Samuel K. Tan reaffirmed Limasawa as the site of the first mass.

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 the exact location of the
"First Mass on Easter," which according to the number 1 pro Butuan author, the word "first"
was not recorded during the observance of Easter Sunday on March 31, 1521 (Salazar, 2015).
Here are Pigafetta's paragraphs as translated by the foremost writer of the The First Voyage
Round the World', Lord Stanley of Alderley:

"On Sunday, the last day of March, and feast of Easter, the captain sent the chaplain ashore
early to say mass, and the interpreter went with him to tell the king that they were not coming
on shore to dine with him, but only to hear the mass. The king hearing that sent two dead pigs.
When it was time for saying mass the captain went ashore with fifty men, not with their arms,
but only with their swords, and dressed as well as each one was able to dress, and before the
boats reached the shore our ships fired six cannon shots as a sign of peace. At our landing the
two kings were there, and received our captain in a friendly manner, and placed him between
them, and then we went to the place prepared for saying mass, which was not far from the
shore. Before the mass began the captain threw a quantity of musk rose water on those two
kings, and when the offertory of the mass came, the two kings went to kiss the cross like us, but
they offered nothing, and at the elevation of the body of our Lord they were kneeling like us,
and adored our Lord with joined hands. The ships fired all their artillery at the elevation of the
body of our Lord. After mass had been said each one did the duty of a Christian, receiving our
Lord. After that the captain had some sword-play by his people, which gave great pleasure to
the kings."

"Then he had a cross brought, with the nails and crown, to which the kings made reverence, and
the captain had them told that these things which he showed them were the sign of the emperor
his lord and master, from whom he had charge and commandment to place it in all places where
he might go or pass by. He told them that he wished to place it in their country for their profit,
because if there came afterwards any ships from Spain to those islands, on seeing this cross,
they would know that we had been there, and therefore they would not cause them any
displeasure to their persons nor their goods; and if they took any of their people, on showing
them this sign, they would at once let them go. Besides this, the captain told them that it was
necessary that this cross should be placed on the summit of the highest mountain in their
country, so that seeing it every day they might adore it, and that if they did thus, neither
thunder, lightning, nor the tempest could do them hurt."

The kings thanked the captain, and said they would do it willingly. Then he asked whether they
were Moors or Gentiles, and in what they believed. They answered that they did not perform
any other adoration, but only joined their hands, looking up to heaven, and that they called their
God, Aba. Hearing this, the captain was very joyful, on seeing that, the first king raised his
hands to the sky and said that he wished it were possible for him to be able to show the
affection which he felt towards him. The interpreter asked him for what reason there was so
little to eat in that place, to which the king replied that he did not reside in that place except
when he came to hunt and to see his brother, but that he lived in another island where he had all
his family. The the captain asked him if he had any enemies who made war upon him, and that
if he had any he would go and defeat them with his men and ships, to put them under his
obedience. The king thanked him, and answered that there were two islands the inhabitants of
which were his enemies; however, that for the present it was not the time to attack them.

Salazar (2015) refute that the First Mass on Easter was not a Biblical Festival not practiced in
the Book of Acts. The original New Testament Church which started on the Day of Pentecost in
31 A,D. /C.E. as described in Acts did not observe the Mass.

Four Sites of the First Mass

1. Limasawa island, Southern Leyte. The most famous is Limasawa Island, an island town in
Southern Leyte, which the Philippine Government recognized as the actual site of the First
Mass. The powerful Roman Catholic Church also recognized Limasawa Island as the site where
Magellan and his crew landed and held the First Mass. Furthermore, the Embassy of Spain
recognized Limasawa as the site of Magellan's landfall such that they also sent the Galleon
Andalucia to visit Maasin City for 5 days and Limasawa for about 3 hours. The Embassy of
Portugal in Metro Manila recognized Limasawa as the 'Mazzaua' which Pigafetta wrote about as
the island where Magellan and his troops observed the First Mass on Easter or introduced
Christianity to the island's inhabitants.

"The Treaty of Tordesillas on June 7, 1494 virtually divided the unknown world between Spain
and Portugal with the approval of the Holy See. Did you know that Magellan, in a previous
expedition, had [landed] in the Moluccas, just south of Mindanao? In those days, Portugal had
something that the Spanish didn't have: cartographic maps of the so-called Spice Islands.
Therefore, since he was a Portuguese, it is safe to assume that Magellan used Portuguese
cartographic maps during his historic expedition that brought him to Cebu on March 16, 1521
(this is a wrong date)."
"With the Treaty of Tordesillas, Prof. De Sousa said the Philippine archipelago fell under the
jurisdiction of Portugal... but Magellan made his claim for the King of Spain who paid for his
expedition. Thus in 1750, Spain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Madrid whereby the
Portuguese exchanged the Philippines for the South Frontier of Brazil, which gave Portugal
control of Rio de la Plata. Again this is something we've never read in our history books.
History tells us that Spain sold the Philippines to the United States for a measly sum of $20
million, but we never knew about this exchange deal between Spain and Portugal for Brazil!"

"Talking about rewriting history, we all know about the claim made by some Butuanons that a
place called Mazaua was allegedly the site of the first Holy Mass instead of Limasawa Island
off Southern Leyte. Well, Prof. De Sousa has another insight on this, which I'm sure puts an end
to this endless debate and enrich our pre-Spanish history. It turned out that the ill-fated
Magellan expedition ended Spanish exploration of these islands. But Portuguese navigators like
João de Barros, Gaspar Correia, Diogo do Couto, Francisco de Castro and Antonio Galvão have
been exploring Mindanao from 1520 to 1565 until the Spaniards resumed its conquest of the
Philippines through another expedition led by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi.

2.Masao or Mazaua in Butuan City, Agusan del Norte. The next popular one is Mazaua in
Butuan City, the capital of Agusan del Norte in Northern Mindanao. The Butuanons and their
supporters advocate that Magellan and his men landed in Mazaua for the reason that it has the
anchorage, rice fields, gold, antique "balanghai" and other artifacts which they unearthed in
scattered areas in Butuan City.

In the so-called 'Magellan's Harbor' in Butuan, the real harbor for the cargo and passenger ships
traveling to and departing from Butuan City is actually in Nasipit, which is 25 kilometers west
of Mazaua. Mazaua or Butuan City's offshore is too shallow for ship navigation!

If Mazaua had the abundant rice fields, other food. supplies, and water at the time when
Magellan and his troops landed and held the 'First Mass' or observed Easter Sunday, how come
Magellan and his fellow sailors sought for a bigger Island? Mazaua was and is attached to
Mindanao, the second largest island in the entire Philippines.

Since the pro-Mazaua supporters strongly claimed that Magellan and his fellow sailors held the
'First Mass' or observed Easter Sunday in their 'island of plenty' what happened to the abundant
foods, drinks and other supplies in Mazaua and their next 'neighbor, the Kingdom of Butuan'?
Why did the two rajahs of 'Mazzaua" and Butuan volunteered as pilots to Magellan to obtain
provisions in Cebu, which is much smaller than Mindanao?

The pro-Butuan proponents claimed that Magellan and his troops landed in Mazaua, Butuan
City because Pigafetta wrote in his logbook about the small gift items made of gold supposedly
from Butuan which Rajah Kalambu gave to Magellan. Well then, if gold was such a big deal in
Butuan, Magellan and his sailors could have sailed easily south to Surigao, Mindanao while
they were still sailing off the eastern coast of Panaon Island. They had seen Surigao which was
and is in northeast Mindanao before nighttime because Mindanao is the second biggest island in
the entire Philippines. Surigao was known to have gold at that time and up to the present day.
Magellan and his men in 3 ships did not search. for spices only. They searched for anything or
things of value to bring home and hand them over to the King of Spain!

Furthermore, the pro-Butuan supporters claimed that the

antique 'balanghai' that some of them found under the ground in

Masao or Mazaua, Butuan is one proof that Magellan was in

Mazaua.

Salazar (2015) refers to the writings of de Jesus wrote a lengthy article entitled, 'Mazaua:
Magellan's Lost Harbor'. The government of Butuan City, Mindanao, commissioned him to do
extensive research on the Mazaua landfall issue. He concluded that Magellan and his troops
landed in Mazaua, Butuan City, Philippines, He wrote:

"Two events define the meaning of Mazaua for most Filipinos, the Easter mass and the planting
of a large cross atop the tallest hill. The Philippines is an isolated rock of Christianity in a huge
ocean lashed by the powerful waves of Islam, Buddhism, Hindu and other beliefs. Of its 76
million people 83% are Catholics, 9% Protestants. Mazaua, therefore, is an icon to a deeply
religious people, an event of overarching importance. This aspect of a signal event in world
geography and Renaissance navigation has unfortunately served to distort the way the event is
viewed."

It may be an icon and very important event to the professed 'Christians' and Holy Bible
illiterates, but to those who practice Biblical Christianity, the First Mass on Easter is
meaningless and worthless! Most Filipinos have all the time in the world to read the
newspapers, tabloids, the political, sports and entertainment publications, and the comics but
not few minutes to read and study the Holy Bible.

The world's greatest minds in America, for example, are not going to help with the First Mass'
argument in the Philippines. They do not even care to help the 549,928 homeless people in
America. For example: "One in five homeless Americans live in California, where the problem
is especially acute. In the Golden State and three other western states - Hawaii, Nevada, and
Oregon - more than 50% of homeless people are categorized as unsheltered, meaning they are
living in the streets, vehicles or parks, in places not fit for humans to stay. In New York, by
comparison, the number is less than 5%. City services are overwhelmed. After torrential rains in
San Francisco last week, the shelter wait list for single adults reached a record 1,126 people,
according to Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness in San
Francisco."

The so-called experts on Mazaua, Butuan denied or ignored the 'unwritten history of the
Portuguese' colonization of Mindanao before Magellan and his explorers sailed across the
Pacific Ocean from South America. They ignored or pretended not to know the fact that the
Portuguese navigators, such as João de Barros, Gaspar Correia, Diogo do Couto, Francisco de
Castro and Antonio Galvão had explored Mindanao from 1520 to 1565. The Portuguese were
ahead of Magellan's expedition in the Philippines by at least one year.

Before Magellan's explorers landed in March 1521, the Roman Catholic Portuguese sailors
more likely had conducted the "First Mass' in Southern Philippines. Therefore, the pro-Butuan
proponents had the right to assume and claim the 'First Mass' in Mindanao, but not recorded in
history, before Portugal exchanged the entire Philippines for Brazil with Spain. In a Portuguese
map made around 1535 to 1538, Butuan's name was Butan or Butuão. Spain did not even know
that Butuan existed!

Thus, carrying the flag of Spain and being financed by the Spanish King Charles V, Magellan
and his fellow explorers did not sail south to Mazaua, Butuan in Mindanao. The Portuguese
navigators who sailed eastward from Portugal to Mindanao via Indonesia had occupied the big
Mindanao Island one year before Magellan and his troops landed in Limasawa Island, Southern
Leyte. The natives of Mazaua, Butuan mistook the Portuguese explorers from Portugal as that
of Magellan's explorers from Spain.

The Portuguese had known where Magellan's fleet was bound before it even sailed; warships
would surely be waiting to stop it from reaching the Moluccas. Even if Magellan found the
Moluccas, loaded his ships with precious spices and then got away, most ports and trading
stations on the route back to Spain would be Portuguese outposts and closed to him." Since
some Portuguese captains and navigators and their crew had explored and colonized Mindanao
Island, they would have arrested Magellan and his men if they landed in Mazaua, Butuan which
was a Portuguese outpost and trading station in Mindanao. The Portuguese authorities arrested
and jailed the entire 54 crew members of Trinidad, Magellan's flagship, after the ship was
repaired and loaded with spices on its eastward voyage from the Spice Islands to the planned
Panama in Central America, where they could transship the spices to another ship bound for
Spain!

3. Homonhon Island, Eastern Samar. Some people in Homonhon Island and Samar also claimed
that Magellan and his fellow sailors must have some kind of religious festivity shortly after they
landed on the island. Magellan's troops had a terrible experience after they landed in Guam,
which they called Las Islas de los Ladrones (the island of thieves). So, according to the groups
supporting the 'First Mass' in Homonhon, Magellan and his sailors had a mass in the island to
thank God for their safe trip from Guam and the vast Pacific Ocean:

"Pigafetta did not exactly say that it was their first mass, he only reported that a mass was
celebrated on Easter Sunday [in Mazzaua Island]. Atty. Mendiola concludes in his paper, 'that.
the mass on Homonhon island on the 19th day of March 1521, was the first one celebrated in
the Philippines, not one at Limasawa or Mazaua on the 31st of that month. Any passage or
statement to the contrary in' our history books would be unsustainable under present
historiography."

"Notwithstanding these debates when the first mass was celebrated, the fact remains that it was
in Homonhon that Magellan first landed. And today, we commemorate that event and celebrate
its greater significance. The historian Agoncillo writes that it was through this trip that the
Europeans first learned of the existence of the Philippines. It also proved that the earth was
round; it established the vastness of the Pacific Ocean; it proved that the East Indies could be
reached by crossing the Pacific and finally, it showed that the Americas was really a land mass
entirely separate from Asia."

"While Magellan discovered the existence of the

Philippines, for me, the greater significance of Magellan's arrival in Homonhon, was it showed
the world, that we in Samar, already had a society, a culture of our own. Pigafetta wrote that
'their seignior was an old man who was painted. He wore two gold earrings in his ears and the
others many gold armlets on their arms and kerchiefs about their heads... They have very black
hair that falls to the waist and use daggers, knives, and spears ornamented with gold, large
shields, fascines, javelins and fishing nets that resemble rizali and their boats are like ours."

"Later on, Jesuit missionaries who came and settled our island would document this culture.
Our society then was structured according to social classes which dictated not only the behavior
of men and women but also the manner of dressing from head to toe, from cradle to their
graves."

4. Mahaba Island, Placer, Surigao del Norte. Finally, another group of people in northeastern
Mindanao claimed that Magellan's expedition actually had the First Mass in Mahaba Island in
Surigao del Norte:

"It was recorded that when he was nearing the shores of

Mindanao, Magellan saw lights of a settlement which he avoided and sailed farther north
(actually south] and anchored near an island named Mazzava, now mark on maps as Mahaba
Island, located at latitude nine and two thirds degrees." "Magellan during that time was using an
astrolabe to

determine his latitude location and the accuracy of this instrument was plus or minus one
degree. They must have landed and then check their latitude location which was why they read
to one third of a degree, which they could not have done [so] on a moving ship. There was no
way during that time to determine [the] longitude as the chronometer which could measure [the]
longitude. was only invented by James Harrison, Englishman, in 1740." an

"Mazzava Island appears on present detailed maps of the area to be Mahaba island in the
Municipality of Placer, Surigao del Norte. Magellan could have mistaken Mahaba Island, a
small island to be part of Masepilid Island because it is almost touching this bigger island, and
at low tide it could easily be mistaken to be connected to the bigger island at the northern tip.
This could be the reason that the island where they landed was described as shaped like a
stingray, which Masepilid is, and about 10 x 5 miles in area."

"If present maps will be examined today, it will be noted that Mahaba island is very close to the
island of Masepilid and the flotilla of Magellan most probably anchored between these two
islands. It will be noted also that Masepilid is shaped like a stingray as described by Pigafetta."

The location of the mass was contentious. Originally it was thought to be in the island of
Limasawa, in' Leyte, but other historians argue that a mistranslation resulted to that error, and
that the place should be Butuan (the place where the Golden Tara was also discovered).

That issue reached the Congress, which in 1996 directed the National Historical Institute to
recommend a historical finding. The panel was composed of several historians, some of which
became my professors in UP Diliman Department of History. The panel and the NHI reaffirmed
in 1998 that the place is Limasawa, but the controversy is still alive until today.