First Catholic Mass in the Philippines

On March 16, 1521, as they sailed in a westerly course from Ladrones, they saw land towards they
northwest but owing to many shallow places, they didn’t approach it. They found out later that its name
was YUNAGAN. They went instead that same day southwards to another small island named SALUAN,
and there they anchored. They saw canoes but fled at the Spaniard’s approach. Then sailed to GADA
where they took a supply of wood and water. From Pigafetta’s testimony, this seems to be the
“AQUADA” or HOMONHON. They then continue to Sail towards a large island, Seilani, that was
inhabited and was known to have gold. Selani (called Ceylon by Pigafetta) was the island of LEYTE. In
Albos account the location of Mazava fits the location of Limasawa However Albo does not mention the
first Mass, but only the planting of the cross upon the mountain top.

Pigafetta and seven days in Mazaua

March 28, 1521, In the morning they anchored near an island where they had seen a light the night
before a small boat (bolo to) came with eight natives to whom Magellan threw some trinkets as
presents. This was Thursday in holy week. Next day. Holy Friday, Magellan sent his slave interpreter
ashore in a small boat to ask the king if he could provide the expedition with food supplies, and to say
that they had come as friends not as enemies. The native king and his companions returned ashore,
bringing with them two members of Magellan’s expedition as guests for the night. One of the two was
Pigafetta.

March 30,1521, Pigafetta and his companion had spent the previous evening feasting and drinking with
the native king and his son. Pigafetta deplored the fact that although it was Good Friday, they had to eat
meat. Early in the morning of Sunday, the last of March and Easter day, 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.

March 31,1521, While on the summit of the highest hill, Magellan asked the two kings which ports he
should go to in order to obtain more abundant supplies of food than were available in that island. They
replied that there were three ports to choose from: Ceylon, Zubu and Calagan and Zubu was the port
with the most trade.

April 1,1521, Magellan sent men ashore to help with the harvest but no work was don’t that day
because the two kings were sleeping off their drinking bout the night before. They work on the harvest
during the next two days, and on April 4,1521 they leave mazaua bound for Cebu.

On June 19, 1960 the government declared the Island Of Limasawa as a national shrine where the first
mass happened in the Philippines. However, there were controversies between Limasawa and Masao or
known as Butuan as to where the First Catholic Mass really happened. As recounted by PIgafetta in his
chronicle of Magellan’s expedition to the Philippine islands starting March 16, 1521, the first Christian
Mass celebrated on Philippine soil was made in an island which he called “Mazaua” The precise identity
and location of this venue of the First Mass became the subject of writings of historian’s and scholars
whose differing interpretations of PIgafetta’s account would eventually spawn lead to a controversy. For
three centuries, it was the prevailing belief that Pigafetta’s Mazaua was a place called Masao near
Butuan City in Northern Mindanao. They Butuan belief persisted from the 17 th to the 19th century. Using
the primary sources available Jesuit Priest Miguel A. Bernard in his work Butuan or Limasawa: The Site of
the FIrst Mass in the Philippines: A Reexamination of Evidence (1981) lays down the argument that in
the PIgafetta account, a crucial aspect of Butuan was not mentioned the river. Butuan is a riverine
settlement, situated on the Agusan River. The beach of Masao is in the delta of said river. It is a curious
omission in the account of the river, which makes part of a distinct characteristics of Butuan’s geography
that seemed to be too important to be missed. However, former House of Representatives Jaime C. de
Veyra stated that the first mass was not celebrated in Limasawa not in Butuan. Historian Pablo Pastells
stating by the footnote to Francisco Collin’s Labor Evangelica that Magellan did not go to Butuan but
from Limasawa to Cebu. American academic historian James Alexander Robertson agreed with Pastells
in a footnote that “Mazua” was actually Limasawa. In the account of Pigafetta, the port was not in
Butuan an island named Mazua. Pilot of Magellan’s flagship Francisco Albo does not mention the first
mass, but he writes that they erected a cross on a mountain which overlooked three islands the west
and southwest.

The commission concluded that the First mass was held in Limasawa after it found that

The most complete and reliable account of the Magellan expedition into Philippine shores in 1521 is that
of Antonio Pigafetta which is deemed as the only credible primary source of reports on the celebration
of the first Christian Mass on Philippine soil. Pigafetta’s Mazaua. the site of the first Christian Mass held
on Philippine soil, is an island lying off the southwestern tip of Leyte while Masao in Butuan is not an
island, but a barangay of Butuan City located in a delta of the Agusan River along the coast of Northern
Mindanao. The position of Mazaua, as plotted by Pigafetta, matched that of LImasawa. Magellan’s fleet
took a route from Homonhon to Mazaua and from Mazaua to Cebu that did not at any time touch
Butuan or any other part of Mindanao. The docking facilities at LImasawa did not pose any problem for
Magellan’s fleet which anchored near or at some safe distance from the island of the eastern shore