1. What are the issues concerning the site of the First Mass held in the Philippines?

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Refer to the PowerPoint Presentation( SCHOOLOGY-)

 Case Study 1: Where Did the First Catholic Mass Take in the Philippines?

In this case study we will not focus on the significance of the site of the first catholic mass in the Philippines, but rather,
use it as a historiographical exercise in the utilization of evidence and interpretation in reading historical events. There
are two primary sources that historians refer to in identifying the site of the first mass. One is the log kept by
Francisco Albo,a pilot of one of Magellan’s ship, Trinidad. The other one is Antonio Pigafetta who has more
complete. Pigafetta was also a member of Magellan expedition and an eye witness of the events, particularly of the
first mass.In Albo’s account it must be noted that the location of Mazava fits the location of the island of
Limasawa, at the southern tip of Leyte, 9°54’N. Albo does not mention the first mass but only the planting
of the cross upon a mountain-top from which could beseen three islands to the west and southwest, which also fits the
southern end of Limasawa.
First mass
On March 31, 1521, an Easter Sunday, Magellan ordered a mass to be celebrated which was officiated by Father
Pedro Valderrama, the Andalusion chaplain of the fleet, the only priest then. Conducted near the shores of the island,
the Holy First Mass marked the birth of  Roman CatholicismI in the Philippines. Colambu and Siaiuwere the first
natives of the archipelago, which was not yet named "Philippines" until the expedition of Ruy Lopez de Villalobos in
1543, to attend the mass among other native inhabitants
Planting of the cross
In the afternoon of the same day, Magellan instructed his comrades to plant a large wooden cross on the top of the hill
overlooking the sea.  Magellan's chronicler,  Antonio Pigafetta, who recorded the event said: "After the cross
was erected in position, each of us repeated a Pater Noster and an  Ave Maria, and adored the cross; and the
kings [Colambu and Siaiu] did the same."  Magellan then took ownership of the islands where he had landed in the
nameof  King Charles V which he had named earlier on March 1 6 Archipelago of  Saint Lazarusbecause it was
the day of the saint when the Armada reached the archipelago. 
Proclamation of the national shrine
On June 19, 1960, Republic Act No. 2733, called the Limasawa Law, wasenacted 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. Magallanes is east of the island of Limasawa. In
1984 Imelda Marcos had a multi-million pesos Shrine of the First Holy Mass built, an edifice made of steel, bricks and
polished concrete, and erected ontop of a hill overlooking barangay Magallanes, Limasawa. A super typhoon
completely wiped this out just a few months later. Another shrine was inaugurated in 2005.
Limasawa celebrates the historic and religious coming of the Spaniards every March 31with a cultural presentation
and anniversary program dubbed as Sinugdan, meaning"beginning.". Yet this has no reference at all to a Catholic
mass being held on March 31, 1521.
Historical controversies
Masao
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 (alsoMazaua) 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 HistoricalInstitute 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.
Bolinao
Odoric of Pordenone, an Italian and Franciscan friar and missionary explorer, isheartily believed by many
Pangasinenses to have celebrated the first massin Pangasinanin around 1324 that would have predated the mass
held in 1521by Ferdinand Magellan. A marker in front of  Bolinao Churchstates that the first Mass onPhilippine soil
was celebrated in Bolinao Bay in 1324 by a Franciscanmissionary,Blessed Odorico.However, there is scholarly doubt
that Odoric was ever at thePhilippines. Ultimately, the National Historical Institute led by   AmbethOcampo
recognized the historical records of  Limasawain Southern Leyte as the venue of the first Mass, held on March 31,
1521.
Confusion on meeting the king of Butuan
According to Bernad (2002)[23], the confusion originated on the misinterpretation of some of the 17th
century historians such as Colin and Combes, often yielding incorrect representation of Magellan’s
voyage, which ultimately led to the misconception of the first mass being held at Butuan, rather
than Limasawa. The writings of the previous historians failed to depict the correct route of Magellan’s
ships toward the Philippines. Some write-ups accounted for the entrance of the ships from the
southern part of the country whereas the account of Antonio Pigafetta revealed the entrance from
the eastern part of the country, from the direction of the Pacific region [24].
Of utmost significance other than the non-verisimilar picture of the route of the voyage is the
confusion on the encounter between the explorer Ferdinand Magellan and the two datus when the
former reached the island of Limasawa, formerly called "Mazaua". According to the previous
writings, after the Spaniards visited the island, they went, together with the two native kings
to Butuan and there erected a cross on top of a hill to symbolize friendship with the natives and to
serve as a sign to future Spanish explorers. After the erection of the cross and going about the
events in the first mass, the men went to Cebu, by the initiative of Magellan, in search for resources.
This account rooted from the misunderstanding of the meeting between the three persons.
According to Pigafetta, Magellan met the datu of Limasawa, and another datu, whom the scribe
himself called “one of his brothers”, namely the king of Butuan. This highlights the origin of the
confusion – Magellan in fact never went to Butuan; he and his men celebrated the first mass on the
island of Limasawa, together with the two datus: one from the island and another from Butuan,
before proceeding to Cebu.
Previous historians, in difference from Pigafetta’s account, thought that Magellan went to Butuan and
there held the first mass on the basis of the explorer’s meeting with the island’s king. In reality,
Magellan’s route never included Butuan as one of its destinations. From the eastern part of the
Philippines, reaching the island of Homonhon, Magellan proceeded to Limasawa and thereupon met
two kings, namely the datu of Limasawa and the datu of Butuan. After celebrating the first mass in
that same island, the explorer and his men set out for Cebu in search for greater resources.

Answer the following questions:

1. Which of the conventions on the site of the first Mass is more believable? Why?
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2. Why is it significant to establish the accuracy of the details on the first mass?
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Refer to the Video Presentation SCHOOLOGY

First Mass' in Limasawa: Fact or opinion? (Blog- ABS-CBN News by Buudy Gomez)

That “First Mass” celebrated on Philippine soil was neither in Agusan nor in Southern Leyte!
Is Mass on Easter Sunday ever celebrated without first observing Palm Sunday, a week before?
I am establishing a chronology in order to resolve an argument over geography! Homonhon came
before Limasawa. Let’s go.
We ended last week’s first part with the National Historical Institute’s (NHI) conclusion stating that
“the first-ever Christian mass on Philippine soil on March 31, 1521 was celebrated in the island of
Limasawa.” It is a conclusion the NHI reached after a “rigorous evaluative analysis and appraisal of
primary sources” -- none other than “the most complete and reliable account of the Magellan
expedition” the chronicles of Antonio Pigafetta. Without being disrespectful much less smart , I am
afraid the National Historical Institute panel may never have read Pigafetta in its entirety or whatever
they may have read, they dismally misinterpreted! I have combed through Pigafetta in its couple of
English translations. There is absolutely no doubt that mass was celebrated in Limasawa on March
31, 1521, Easter Sunday because Pigafetta did say so. But nowhere in the entire Pigafetta
manuscript did he ever state or even hint that it was “the first ever!” In fact, the National Historical
Institute repeated a much earlier Congressional error. You see, in June 19, 1960, Republic Act 2733
lapsed into law, “without Executive approval.” President Macapagal did not sign it. That legislation
declared Limasawa a National Shrine because it was there that “the First Mass in the Philippines
was held.”
Here is the verbatim quote (English translation from Blair & Robertson) of what Pigafetta wrote:
“Early on the morning of Sunday, the last of March and Easterday, the captain general sent the
priest with some men to prepare the place where mass was to be said.” Indeed, it was the first
mention of mass being celebrated since arriving in the islands they had just named “the archipelago
of San Lazaro.” Inescapably and irrefutably, however, Pigafetta never claimed that that Limasawa
Easter Mass was the “first ever, ” as we were taught in our elementary school Philippine History.
 
As a matter of observation, a few noted historians are now no longer referring to the Limasawa mass
as the “first.” Earlier, there has been a shift -- referring to the Limasawa event as the “first recorded
mass.” Unavoidably, the stark implication, without officially admitting it, was that there was a first
“unrecorded mass.” Quite recently, the 500th Anniversary of that March 31 event (to be celebrated in
2021) was referred to more factually as simply the “Easter Sunday Mass” at Limasawa. Claims of
being the “first” seem to be vanishing!
How the original error (opinion, not fact!) came to be and who might have caused and perpetuated it
for so long, do not seem to be of any import at all anymore. Having unveiled and aired the error,
correction by the concerned authorities is simply in order. It would, however, be an academic
challenge to pursue the subject as, say a masteral thesis, on a historical “whodunnit!”
The voyage of Magellan, from San Lucar de Barrameda to “the archipelago of San Lazaro” spanned
a period of one year, six months and a couple of weeks. It would be preposterous to conclude that
no other masses were said, before Limasawa, even claiming such to be “the first,” simply because of
its unmention or perhaps because Pigafetta imply failed to record a religious rite which after all,
occurs with regularity every Sunday? The uneventful remains unworthy of recordation, right?
During the time span of Magellan’s voyage up to their arrival in Zubu (Cebu), I have found only five
instances when Pigafetta recorded such religious rites being observed. Truly incredulous that no
other masses were said throughout the voyage simply because Pigafetta did not mention them! With
the Magellan crew, by the way, were three priests.
 
While along the coast of Verzin (Brazil): “mass was said twice on shore, during which those people
(natives) remained on their knees.” In the Patagonian port of San Julian: “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 already in Limasawa. The fifth was when they had reached
Zubu.
But Magellan anchored and stayed in Humunu (Homonhon) for a full eight days, Sunday to Sunday,
departing on the 9th day, March 25 which was a Monday in 1521. After months of floating over the
Pacific seas in hopeful desolation, having at last finally landed, and on a Sunday, too! would not a Te
Deum in the very least have been called for? Pigafetta was silent. He was also silent about their
second Sunday in Homonhon, which was in fact Palm Sunday!
I am mindful and should you be. While in the port of San Julian, Pigafetta recorded mass on Palm
Sunday (which fell on April 1, 1520 - a year earlier), but he fails to mention mass on Easter Sunday.
Pigafetta mentioned Easter Sunday mass in Limasawa but was silent about Palm Sunday on their
last full day in Homonhon.
Is Easter Mass ever celebrated without observing Palm Sunday? Or, is Palm Sunday observed
without being followed by mass on Easter Sunday?
Here is the chronology. Again, lifted verbatim from Pigafetta’s memoirs:
“At dawn on Saturday, March 16, 1521, (feast of St. Lazarus, my insertion) we came upon a
highland at a distance…..an island named Zamal (Samar)…..the following day (March 17, Sunday)
the captain general desired to land on another island (Humunu) ….uninhabited…..in order to be
more secure and to get water and have some rest. He had two tents set up on shore for the sick.”
“On Monday, March 18, we saw a boat coming towards us with nine men in it.” (This marks our first
human contact with Europeans)…..”giving signs of joy because of our arrival.” “At noon on Friday,
March 22, those men came as they had promised.”
“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 instances recorded by Pigafetta of masses being said had two things in common. They were all
observed on shore; and with natives being present.
It is quite evident that because of failure in historiographic interpretation, Homonhon (a barangay of
the Municipality of Guiuan in Eastern Samar) has been excluded and neglected as the true venue of
the celebration of the very first Sunday mass in the Philippines, whether it was March 17, 1521 or on
Palm Sunday, March 24, 1521.
Homonhon is in dire need of a champion that will rectify its abandonment as the rightful,
indispensable element in the 500th anniversary celebration of the seminal event that began to define
us to the world.
I believe that task belongs firstly and collectively to the provincial government of Eastern Samar and
the Municipality of Guiuan, alongside the Catholic Church represented by the Diocese of Borongan,
under whose sacerdotal responsibility Homonhon must occupy the greatest of historical honors.
They sit on their heritage, they lose it. It would be a travesty of history, if they fail to claim their
rightful place in Philippine History.
(Disclosure: I am not an academically credentialed historian but a mere avid history buff with a knack
for story-telling. I enjoy sharing my readings and interpretations from which I draw fact-based
opinions. Always, I am subject to human fallibility and would welcome critique. Thank you.)
1. Do you agree that the site of the first Catholic Mass in the Philippines was in Limasawa? Justify
your answer?
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Choose your side either affirmative side or negative side. Then justify your stand in resolving the
issue below.

Resolved: That Limasawa is the site of the first Catholic Mass in the Philippines.