The First Mass Site in The Philippines

ALE MARK A.
SIAROT BIT 1-2A
THE FIRST MASS SITE IN THE PHILIPPINES
As part of its mandate to resolve historical controversies, the National Historical

Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) revisited the controversy surrounding the site of the
1521 Easter Sunday Mass in the Philippines which, according to Antonio Pigafetta, the
chronicler of the Magellan-Elcano expedition, happened on 31 March 1521 in a place he
identified as Mazaua. The issue as to the exact location of the said mass was resolved by the
forerunner of the NHCP, the National Historical Institute (NHI), through two panels of experts:
the first headed by former Supreme Court Justice Emilio Gancayco (1995) and the second by
historian Dr. Benito J. Legarda (2008). Both panels ruled that the site of the 1521 Easter
Sunday Mass was in Limasawa Island, now a municipality in Southern Leyte.
The Board of Commissioners of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines

(NHCP) signed on 15 July 2020 Resolution No. 2, adopting the report submitted by the panel
that reviewed the issue surrounding the site of the 1521 Easter Sunday Mass in the Philippines.
In the report (see below), the panel recommended Limasawa, in today’s Southern Leyte, as the
site of the said event.
The panel was convened in response to the requests from various institutions, including the
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), even as the anticipation of the Filipino
Catholic faithful had just begun for the 500 anniversary of the introduction of Christianity in the
th
Philippines (see attached brief background about the process).

Republic Act No. 10086 or Strengthening People’s Nationalism Act of 2009 mandates the
NHCP to “actively engage in the settlement or resolution of controversies or issues relative to
historical personages, places, dates and events.
Explained that the mass took place in the western side of Limasawa and not in the eastern
side (now named Barangay Magallanes) where a shrine commemorating the event is located.
The following day, the panel went to Limasawa to conduct an ocular survey of the places
mentioned by Dr. Borrinaga. They went to the shrine at Barangay Magallanes and then
proceeded to Barangay Triana to visit the site proposed by Dr. Borrinaga. The members also
climbed Totoy-Totoy Peak which according to Dr. Borrinaga was the mountain where the cross
was erected after the mass. While on the mountaintop, the members noted a view of three
islands that seems to be closely identified with the ones Pigafetta mentioned is his chronicle.
Evidences that proves that the first mass happened in Limasawa

1. 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.
2. James Robertson's English translation of the original Italian manuscript of Pigaffeta's account is
most reliable for being ''faithful'' to the original text as duly certified by the University of the
Philippines' Department of European Language.
3. 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.
4. The measurement of distances between Homonhon and Limasawa between Limasawa and Cebu, as
computed by the pro-Limasawa group, matches or approximates the delineations made by Pigafetta of the
distances between Homonhon and Mazaua and between Mazaua and Cebu.
ALE MARK A. SIAROT BIT 1-2A
Approval process of the terminal report
The members of the panel met thrice to discuss the position papers and to deliberate on the
final ruling on the controversy. The first meeting was held in Cebu, second in Tacloban, and
third in Manila. On 9 January 2020, Dr. Mojares officially submitted the terminal report of the
panel to the NHCP. Dr. Escalante routed the report to the History Departments of the University
of the Philippines Diliman, Ateneo de Manila University, University of Santo Tomas, and De La
Salle University. He also shared the report to the presidents of the Philippine
National Historical Society (PNHS), Philippine Historical Association (PHA), and Asosasyon ng
mga Dalubhasa may Hilig at Interes sa Kasaysayan (ADHIKA) ng Pilipinas. These institutions
were enjoined to react and comment on the ruling of the panel. Except for UST
and ADHIKA that did not send an official position on the report, all other institutions favorably
agreed with the ruling of the panel. The report was discussed by the NHCP Board of
Commissioners in their June and July 2020 meetings. Except for Commissioner Abraham
Sakili, the eight other NHCP Commissioners signed Resolution No. 2, s. 2020 on 15 July 2020,
adopting the report of the Panel that the 1521 Easter Sunday Mass took place on Limasawa.
They all claimed that the 1521 Easter Sunday Mass happened in Butuan. The panel
acknowledged that for almost three centuries, majority of the literature declared that the first
mass took place somewhere in Butuan. It was only after the original Pigafetta manuscripts were
made available to scholars in the 19th century that the shift to Limasawa started. Pigafetta and
the Limasawa Tradition
Days after the Victoria (the only ship that survived the Magellan-Elcano expedition) arrived in
Seville, Pigafetta went to Valladolid where he presented to King Charles I his account of the
journey. Thereafter, he went to Portugal and did the same thing to King João III. Both accounts
did not survive in history. Then he went to France and gave a summary in Italian of his chronicle
to Louise de Savoy, mother of King Francis I of France. The queen ordered Jacques Antoine
Fabre to translate it to French and it came out in printed form in 1525 with the title Le voyage et
nauigation. This version was used by most scholars like Ramusio in narrating the story of the
first circumnavigation of the world. Pigafetta later composed a more comprehensive version of
the voyage but it remained unknown to many scholars until Carlo Amoretti published it in 1800.
Trinidad Pardo de Tavera and Pablo Pastells, SJ were the first two scholars who revisited
the 1521 Easter Sunday Mass using the latest and more comprehensive account of Pigafetta
that became available only during their time. This was the Andrea Da Mosta transcription which
was published in 1894. In an article that Pardo de Tavera wrote in El
Comercio on 31 March 1895, he stated that the Butuan tradition was a mistake. Pastells on his
part made a similar remark questioning the veracity of the Butuan claim on the 1521 Easter
Sunday mass. While working on his edition of Colin’s Labor evangelica, he had the
opportunity to study Pigafetta and Albo and on his footnote on Colin’s account of the first mass,
Pastells wrote: “Magellan did not go to Butuan. Rather, from the island of Limasawa he
proceeded to Cebu.”
Robertson published a translation of the Pigafetta manuscript in 1906 using the original
Ambrosiana Codex. He wrote that according to Pigafetta, the 1521 Easter Sunday mass was
held in an island called Mazaua. Robertson provided a footnote that the present name of the
place is Limasawa. In 1969, Skelton also came out with an English translation of the Nancy
Codex and noted that the mass took place in an island which Pigafetta called Mazzaua. He also
identified Limasawa as its current name. Pardo de Tavera’s correction from the Da Mosta
transcription, Pastells’ footnote on Colin, Robertson’s translation of the Ambrosiana Codex, and
Skelton’s translation of the Nancy Codex may be considered the main reasons for the shift in
scholarly opinion regarding the site of the 1521 Easter Sunday Mass.

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ALE MARK A.

SIAROT BIT 1-2A

THE FIRST MASS SITE IN THE PHILIPPINES

As part of its mandate to resolve historical controversies, the National Historical

The Board of Commissioners of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines

Philippines (see attached brief background about the process).

Evidences that proves that the first mass happened in Limasawa

Approval process of the terminal report

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