Case Study 1 :

The Site of the First Catholic Mass in the

Philippines:

Limasawa, Southern Leyte or

Masao,Butuan City ?
• Antonio Pigafetta - was an Italian scholar and explorer from the
Republic of Venice.
• He joined the expedition to the Spice Islands led by explorer
Ferdinand Magellan.

• He served as Magellan's assistant and kept an accurate journal.

• Pigafetta was one of the 18 men out of 240 who returned to

Spain in 1522.
Masao, Butuan City Evidences
• 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
Pagsanjan, Laguna in the Philippines, claims the location of the first mass is in
Butuan base on Pigafetta’s acccount.
• 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
explanation.
• President Carlos P. Garcia did not sign the law [R.A. No. 2733].
• According to primary records, the expedition traveled 20 to 25 leagues from
Homonhon, the first landing point. If they had been to Limasawa Island, the
distance is only 14.6 leagues or one-half of that length.
• The relevance of the name Masao , to Pigafetta’s account , Mazaua.
Limasawa, Southern Leyte Evidences

• Francisco Albo’s Log Book one of the pilot in the voyage of Magellan , who is
included in 18 survivors, writes on his book that they erected a cross on a
mountain that overlooks the island.
• On June 19, 1960, the Philippine Congress enacted a bill [R.A. No.
2733]declaring Limasawa as the place where Magellan celebrated the first
recorded mass in the Philippines on Easter Sunday, March 31, 1521.
• In 1996, The first ever Christian Mass in the country on March 31,
1521 was celebrated in the island of Limasawa, south of Leyte and not
in Butuan City, so declared the National Historical Institute.
• Jesuit Priest Miguel A. Bernard , studied pigafetta’s maps and notice
that in pigafetta’s journal 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 .
 Therefore, the First Catholic Mass in the Philipines was held on
March 31, 1521 , Easter Sunday . It was officiated by a priest named
Father Pedro Valderrama in the shore of Mazaua in Pigafetta’s journal ,
whom people believe is the town specifically in the shore of Limasawa in
Southern Leyte. It is popularly known as the birthplace of the Church in
the Philippines.