WEEK 7
" Indeed, it was the first
The primary sources can be classified into the following
categories:
 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 deal with
(Discussion, n.d.) Autobiographies are also nonprejudicial.
 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.
 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.) They possess incriminating material
and are less reliable.
 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: Fact or opinion?
Written by Buddy Gomez on August 17, 2019
        That "First Mass" celebrated on Philippine soil was neither in
Agusan nor Southern Leyte.
        Was the Mass on Easter Sunday ever celebrated without first
observing Palm Sunday, which was a week before it?
        Let us establish a chronology to resolve an argument over
geography. Magellan came to Homonhon before Limasawa. The  they were both observed onshore with the presence of the natives.
National Historical Institute's (NHI) concluded 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" of the
chronicles of Antonio Pigafetta, which is "the most complete and
reliable account of Magellan's expedition."
        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.
mention of Mass being celebrated since arriving in the islands they had
just named "the archipelago of San Lazaro." However, Pigafetta never
claimed that Limasawa Easter Sunday mass was the first that was held
in the Philippines as we were taught in our grade school Philippine
History.
        A few noted historians now no longer refer to the Limasawa mass
as the first Mass held in the country. However, they referred to it as the
first “recorded” Mass in the Philippines. Hence, the first Mass may
have been unrecorded, but historians did not officially affirm this
theory. The 500th Anniversary of that March 31, 2021 event should
have been referred to as the "Easter Sunday Mass" at Limasawa.
        How this supposed error came to be and who might have caused
and perpetuated it do not seem to be of any importance anymore.
When this error is pointed out, correction by concerned authorities
must be in order. However, this phenomenon would pose an academic
challenge as a subject for a master's degree thesis on a historical
"whodunnit!"
        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. It would be preposterous to conclude that no other
masses were held before that in Limasawa and even claimed it as the
Philippines' first-ever Mass because it was unrecorded or Pigafetta
failed to record it. After all, masses occur with regularity every Sunday.
        Between Magellan's voyage up to their arrival in Zubu (Cebu),
Pigafetta only recorded five masses being held. Hence, 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.
        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.
        However, 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 Sunday.
        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:
 "At dawn on Saturday, March 16, 1521, (feast of St. Lazarus) 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… 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 masses recorded by Pigafetta had two things in common:
        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.