Site of-first-mass-in-the-philippines history-1-4

1. 1. SITE OF FIRST MASS IN THE PHILIPPINES

2. 2. ANTONIO PIGAFETTA - around 1491 when he was born at Vicenza, Republic of Venice
or was know now as Italy and died at the aged of 39-40 around 1531 - He studied
astronomy; geography and cartography - an Italian scholar and explorer from the Republic of
Venice - He travelled with the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his crew on their
First Voyage around the world - He was one of the 18 men who returned to Spain in 1522
3. 3. * The first Catholic Mass in the Philippines was held on March 31, 1521 (Eastern Sunday)
* Father Pedro de Valderrama
4. 4. * located at the Southern Leyte * a popularly known as the birthplace of the Church in the
Philippines. *Holy First Mass marked the birth of Roman Catholicism in the Philippines.
5. 5. *1872 : A monument to commemorate the site of first mass on the Philippines was erected
in Butuan. *1953: The people in Butuan asked the Philippine Historical Committee to
rehabilitate the monument or place a marker on the site.
6. 6. *On the basis of this objection the monument was re erected but the marble slab stating it
was the site of first mass was removed. *Zaide identified Masao in Butuan as the location of
the first mass. The basis Zaide’s claim is the diary of Antonio Pigafetta, chronicle of
Magellan’s voyage
7. 7. *Jaime de Veyra stated that the first mass was celebrated in Limawasa not in Butuan.
*Historian Pablo Pastells stating by the footnote to Francisco Colin’s Labor Evangelica that
Magellan did not go to Butuan but form Limasawa to Cebu.
8. 8. * Francisco Albo ( pilot of Magellan’s flagship does not mention the first mass but he writes
that they erected a cross on a mountain which overlooked three islands the west and the
southwest. *James Robertson agreed with Pastells in a footnote that “Mazua” was actually
Limasawa.
9. 9. * in the authentic account of Pigafetta, the port was not in Butuan but an island named
Mazua ( Masawa) *Father Bernard studied all the Pigafetta’s maps, which place in Mazau off
the southern tip of the larger island of Leyte., a check with the modern maps will show that
this jibes with Limasawa and not Masao or Butuan.
10. 10. 1. The evidence of Albo’s Log-Book 2. The Evidence of Pigafetta a) Pigafetta’s testimony
regarding the route; b)The evidence of Pigafetta’s map c)The two native kings d) The seven
days at “Mazaua” e)An argument from omission 3. Summary of the evidence of Albo and
Pigafetta. 4. Confirmatory evidence from the Legazpi expedition.
11. 11. 1. The name of the place 2. the route from Homonhon 3. the latitude position 4. The
geographical features a) the bonfire b) the balanghai c) house d) abundance of gold e) a
developed settlement
12. BUTUAN CITY—Easter Sunday fell on March 31—exactly as
it was in 1521, when Ferdinand Magellan went ashore on an
island called Mazaua and asked his chaplain to celebrate
what became known as the first Mass in the Philippines.
13. Commemorating this uncanny coincidence on March 31,
eight years shy of the 500th anniversary of Magellan’s
Easter Mass, was the Diocese of Butuan, with a
concelebrated Mass by the clergy under the aegis of Bishop
Juan de Dios Pueblos at 9 a.m. at the Cathedral-Shrine of
St. Joseph in this city’s downtown area.
14. ADVERTISEMENT
15. “Official Philippine history says the first Mass was
held in Limasawa, but Catholic historiography and
tradition point to Butuan as the site of this first
Eucharistic celebration in the Philippines,” said Fr.
Joesilo Amalla, of the Diocese of Butuan, whose scholarly
work “Mazaua Controversy: Truth Uncovered,” commissioned
by the then president of the Catholic Bishops Conference
of the Philippines (CBCP), Bishop Nereo Odchimar of
Tandag, Surigao del Sur, is ready for publication.
16. In his manuscript, Amalla zeroed in on the primary
and secondary historiographic documents, which he sourced
from his first-hand research around the world, namely,
Museo Naval de Madrid and Archivo General de Indias in
Sevilla (Spain); Bibleoteque Nationale de Paris (France);
British Museum in London (the UK); Amsterdam Maritime
Museum (the Netherlands); Mateo Ricci Institute in Macau
and Hong Kong Museum Library (China); and Bibleoteca
Ambrosiana in Milan and Apostolic Library in the Vatican
(Italy).
17. “I read almost all the extant manuscripts of Antonio
Pigafetta, who documented Magellan’s journey, and of
Fransisco Albo, Magellan’s pilot,” said Amalla. “I read
and touched and prayed over the handwritten pages.”
18. Nowhere in Pigafetta and Albo’s accounts was there
any mention of the word “Limasawa,” Amalla pointed out.
“Instead,” he said, “what the primary sources recorded was
that the first Mass was held in a place called Mazaua. The
exact words were ‘e se chiama Mazaua’ (and is called
Mazaua).”
19. The Butuan City Heritage Society, of which Amalla is
a leading member, contends that Mazaua was a deltaic
island at the mouth of the Agusan River in Butuan in 1521.
Through the years, siltation and other geologic factors
fused the island into the Mindanao mainland.
20. Noted Amalla, “Early maps put Mazaua and its
variants—such as Mazagua, Massana and Messana—as an island
beside Butuan, which was also characterized as an island
by such early cartographers as Giacomo Gastaldi, whose map
was published in 1554, and Giovanni Battista Ramusio,
whose map appeared in 1563. By the time Abraham Ortelius’
map came out in 1570, Butuan and a place called Messana
were depicted side by side inside the Mindanao mainland.”
21. Using an interdisciplinary approach in his historical
investigation, Amalla said, “Alone among the different
Philippine languages, only Butuanon and its derivative
language, Tausug, has the word masawa, which means ‘bright
light.’” It was the island’s bright light the night before
that prompted Magellan to land in Mazaua.

22.
23. REVISIONIST HISTORIANPRIEST. Fr. Joesilo Amalla peers
at the ruins of the first church in Mindanao enclosed in
the roots and trunks of this ancient balete tree. PHOTOS
BY GIGI NAPANA
24. In the northern shores of today’s Butuan is a
barangay called Masao.
25. In 1986, Asean scientists found a “graben” in Butuan.
A graben is a valley-like depression of the land caused by
the subsidence, or sinking, of a series of blocks of the
earth’s crust. This graben separated Pinamanculan Hills,
which is beside Barangay Masao and where the current
Butuan airport is located, from the main landmass of Mt.
Mayapay in the southwest.
26. ADVERTISEMENT

In his manuscript, Amalla said, “The Asean experts concluded

that the graben or fissure indicated that there were islands
that existed many years ago in the said location and they have
clumped up and have fused themselves beside the Mindanao
mainland due to siltation, erosion and seismic action. When the
graben was filled up and the islands in the area have fused
together, nobody had documented them and no naked eye of today
can see the islands at the mouth of where the Agusan River
flows today.”

Discovery
In 2001, a group of local experts made another confirmatory
discovery for the Butuan claim. The experts—Wilfredo Ronquillo,
chief archaeologist of the National Museum of the Philippines;
Dr. Yolanda Aguilar, geologist and paleontologist; Roberto de
Ocampo, chief geologist of the National Museum; and Dr. Ricarte
Javelosa, chief geomorphologist of the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources—testified that Pinamanculan
Hills were but an island during Episode V of its geological
formation, that is, between 500 years AD and until the 18th
century.
Amalla observed that 1521 “was within this time period and the
island they found is exactly at 9ºN as pinpointed by Magellan’s
pilot, Francisco Albo.”
Another National Museum archaeologist, Mary Jane Louise A.
Bolunia, said, “The significance of Pinamanculan Hills cannot
be taken for granted, especially now that it has been
established that [the area] used to be an island.”
(“Pinamanculan Hills: Its Archeological Importance,” Butuan
City, 2001, p. 3).
Interestingly, for 300 years during the Spanish colonial
period, the Catholic Church in the Philippines believed in the
Butuan tradition, that the first Mass in the country was held
there.
In his “Labor Evangelica” in 1663, Jesuit superior Fr.
Francisco Colin wrote, “On Easter Day, in the Territory of
Butuan, the First Mass ever offered in these parts was
celebrated and a cross planted. Magellan then took possession
of the Islands in the name of the Emperor and of the Crown of
Castile.”
Amalla disclosed that when the late Jaime Cardinal Sin of
Manila was still alive, he told Amalla he supported his Butuan
claim for the first Mass. He said Cardinal Sin allowed him to
see the original copy of the “Anales Ecclesiasticos de
Philipinas 1574-1683.” Said Amalla, “This document stated that
the Easter Sunday Mass in 1521 was celebrated by the Chaplain
of Magellan in Butuan.”
Pigafetta wrote that two kings attended the Mass: “His island
was called Butuan and Calaghan. And that island is called
Mazaua… Of these kings, the aforesaid painted one is named Raia
Colambu and the other Raia Siaui.”
“They are Butuanon brother-kings,” Amalla claimed.
The primary documents mention two balanghai boats accosting
Magellan’s flagship when they neared Mazaua island, with the
king of Mazaua in one of the balanghai. Pigafetta also
mentioned several times the abundance of gold in the island—
“Pieces of gold of the size of walnuts and eggs are found by
sifting the earth in the island of that king who came to our
ships. All the dishes of the king are of gold and also some
portion of his house….”
Trading harbor, gold
In his book “Butuan of a Thousand Years” (printed by Ateneo de
Manila University Press for the Butuan City Historical and
Cultural Foundation in 2004), another prominent Butuan
historian, Greg Hontiveros, contended that the Masao estuary in
today’s Butuan “was once the site of the ancient trading harbor
and well-respected kingdom of Butuan.” In its embankments were
found the balanghai, the largest, oldest and sturdiest
seafaring vessels in Southeast Asia.
Gold, Hontiveros pointed out, was the currency of the Butuan
kingdom before the Spaniards came. In fact most of the gold
pieces in the Central Bank’s gold collection, on permanent
exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, are from the
archaeological findings in Butuan.
In a paper issued by the Butuan City Heritage Society last
year, “The Quest for the Mazaua Landfall: Latest Navigational
and Cartographic Updates,” Hontiveros further discussed “the
ecosystem of Mazaua, gold as its definitive marker, traces of a
trading polity, tribal identity of Raja Siaui of Mazaua and his
brother, Raja Calambu of Butuan and Calaghan, the geology of
the Butuan Delta of which Mazaua was part, the location of
Gatighan [a navigational marker as mentioned in the Pigafetta
accounts], and the 300-year-old Butuan Tradition during the
Spanish colonial era” by way of debunking the Limasawa claim
and upholding the Butuan claim.
Amalla proposed that when modern-day historians tried to update
the historiographical records, they could not find an island
near Butuan, and so they did the next best thing: They looked
for an island whose name sounded like Mazaua—and they found
Limasawa. “And politicians seized the moment,” he said.
“But the data in the firsthand sources negate this,” said
Amalla. “The distances and time and directions travelled by
Magellan do not point to Limasawa at all. Besides, Limasawa has
a rocky shoreline which cannot be a natural harbor as mentioned
in the journals. And it is too small and rough to have rice
fields which would take two days to harvest. And it has no gold
mines, no kingdoms, no oral tradition documenting such an
encounter—unlike in Butuan.”
Amalla further said: “Did you know that Limasawa has been
inaccessible and hardly been inhabited that it became a parish
only in 1994? But the first Christian settlement in Mindanao
was in Butuan in 1596?”
The National Historical Institute, however, upholds the
Limasawa claim.
Nonetheless, the Diocese of Butuan has been commemorating the
first Mass in the Philippines in Butuan City over the years.
This year’s celebration was almost botched, though, when the
city tourism office refused the request of the diocese to use
the plaza in front of the cathedral for the commemorative Mass,
suggesting instead that a seven-minute reenactment in an
ecumenical service would do, to be followed by a political
rally! The incumbent city mayor is Protestant.
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diaro or derotero of the voyage of magallanes from the cape is S. Agustion in Brazil until the return to Spain gives
the nao Victoria, written by Frandsco Albo
diaro o derotero del viage de magallanes desde el cabo se S. Agustion en el Brazil hasta el regreso a
Espana da la nao Victoria, escrito por Frandsco Albo

Mazaua--the real site of the Easter

mass of March 31, 1521--not
Limasawa, not Butuan
VICENTE CALIBO DE JESÚS·TUESDAY, MARCH 30, 2010

Mazaua is the name of a Philippine island-port where Ferdinand Magellan a.k.a. Fernão
de Magalhães and his Armada de Molucca, fleet of three naos, anchored from March 28
to April 4, 1521.

Two longitudes, both wrong

Antonio Pigafetta, the Vicentine diarist who wrote the most comprehensive eyewitness
account of Magellan's voyage, fixed the longitude of Mazaua at 162° East which would
place the isle somewhere near today's Wake Island. Francisco Albo, who piloted the
Victoria back to Guadalquivir in San Lucar de Barrameda on September 6, 1521, placed
Mazaua at 106° 30' East locating it in today's South Vietnam near Tra Vinh. At the time,
there was no precise way of determining longitude, a problem which was solved only
with the perfection by John Harrison's chronometer sometime in 1773.

The exact identity of Mazaua is still in question but there's no dispute that its longitude is
somewhere between 125° 04' East and 125° 28' East. Its latitude is at around 9° North.

Three latitudes

Pigafetta's latitude for Mazaua was 9° 40' N; pilot Francisco Albo, 9° 40' N in one
manuscript in Madrid and 9° 20' N in the London manuscript. Both manuscripts are mere
copies of lost originals. The amanuensis of Madrid made an error which should easily be
detected but no Filipino historian and historiographer ever did. Albo had fixed the
latitude of Homonhon, an island in Samar, at also 9° 40' N; from here the fleet sailed in a
southerly course for three days and some 100 nautical miles, as calculated by Pigafetta, to
reach Mazaua. They could not have traveled three days for 100 miles and still be at the
same latitude of 9° 40' N. The third latitude, 9° N, by another eyewitness, known to
history as The Genoese Pilot but called The Roteiro by James Alexander Robertson, is
more in consonance but still inexact with the determination of the distance traveled from
Homonhon to Mazaua.

No isle in the three latitudes

There are no islands to be seen in any of the three latitudes. However, in year 2001 a
team of geologists, archaeologists, and a geomorphologist acting as leader discovered an
isle at latitude 9° N (the Genoese Pilot’s latitude for Mazaua) and at longitude 125° 28' E.
The isle is an improbability: it is fused with mainland Mindanao.

Today a number of artefacts have been found that attest to the island being Mazaua.

Several visits by Europeans to Mazaua

During the entire Age of Sail, within the Renaissance period, several visits to the isle
have been recorded. Magellan's fleet, with an estimated 186 men, lay at anchors at
Mazaua for seven days. The second known visit was in 1543 by a contingent of the Ruy
Lopez de Villalobos expedition of about 86 mariners who sailed in a ''galeota'' named San
Cristobal. It was piloted by a veteran seaman, Ginés de Mafra, who was also in
Magellan’s Armada de Molucca. He was the only crew member of Magellan's fleet to
return to Mazaua. (See
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=168970059812#!/note.php?note_id=311841
144812)

The San Cristobal was violently yanked out from the fleet by a terrible storm somewhere
between Eniwetok and Ulithi reaching Mazaua in late February. It’s a testament to de
Mafra's seamanship as well as the reliability of the technology of that time in reaching
any point on earth that he was able to bring the limping San Cristobal back to his old
haunt of 1521. The men spent the next four to six months at the hospitable little isle
where twenty-two years earlier Magellan and his crew were received with great
"urbanity." In his account, de Mafra relates he again met the "king" of Mazaua, named
"Siaiu" by Pigafetta and no one else, who showed to de Mafra the items Magellan had
given him as gifts, namely a "robe of red and yellow cloth, made in the Turkish fashion,
and a very fine red cap," as enumerated by Pigafetta. There were two other visits by
members of the Villalobos expedition to Mazaua. The galleon San Juan, under Bernardo
de la Torre, paid a brief visit some time in April 1544 in search of the main contingent of
the expedition. Another visit was by the brigantine under Captain Garcia Escalante de
Alvarado around September-October 1544 in search also of the same members of the
expedition who were left in Sarangani.

There are references in Portuguese chronicles of visits by Portuguese ships to Mazaua in

search of gold and slaves. Most of these are brief stories with unspecified dates except
that we know they happened during the 16th century.

Five eyewitness accounts of Mazaua episode

There are five eyewitness chronicles mentioning Magellan's visit to Mazaua. The authors
and the dates of publication of their writings are Antonio Pigafetta, 1800; The Genoese
Pilot, 1826; Francisco Albo, 1837; Ginés de Mafra, 1920; Martín de Ayamonte,1933. It's
important to know these dates because a controversy surrounds Mazaua principally
because erroneous references to it in accounts that saw print before the primary sources
surfaced have served to confuse Mazaua's true identity.

Secondary sources

Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas wrote a faithful account of the Mazaua episode based
on papers of the chief pilot-astrologer of the Armada de Molucca, Andrés de San Martín.
From 1521 until 1890, Herrera's work is the only one that has the correct name of the isle,
Mazaua, although he spells it in the Hispanicized form, Mazagua, where gu has the value
of w, a letter absent in the Spanish alphabet. This fact, his name, and the fact his narration
is faithful to the true episode is central to resolving the question of the true identity of
Mazaua.
Another secondhand account is the letter of Portuguese Antonio de Brito, governor of the
Moluccas, based at Ternate. He had the seized papers of flagship ''Trinidad'' which was
captured at Benaconora, believed to be today's modern town Djailolo.

De Brito reported to King John III of Portugal that Magellan's fleet had been to Mazava
(he spells it "Mazaba" mistaking the value of v as b instead of w) located at 9° N which
latitude is identical to that of The Genoese Pilot’s. It is not certain at all if it comes from
the Genoese Pilot since de Brito does not attribute it to anyone. It could very well have
come from papers of Andrés de San Martín some of which were seized from Trinidad. It
could very well have been Magellan's own logbook, although this is pure speculation;
there is no Magellana material that alludes to the Portuguese mariner writing anything.
But because some passages resemble those found in the logbook of The Genoese Pilot,
the dominant view is this was de Brito's authority for his letter.

De Brito sent two copies of his letter to the King dated February 11, 1523. The first saw
print in 1894 in Andrea de Mosto's Raccolta Colombiana, Part V, No. 2. The duplicate
copy was published in Alguns documentos do Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo
(Lisbon: 1892), pp. 464-478. Another secondary source is the letter of Maximilianus
Transylvanus. Maximilianus, a protege of the Spanish court historian, Peter Martyr,
interviewed survivors of the voyage when they arrived at Valladolid where Charles V
was holding court. From the interview he wrote a letter to Matthäus Lang, archbishop of
Salzburg, erroneously thought to be the father of Maximilianus, reporting the information
gathered from the interview. This letter, written in Latin, was dated January 1523 and is
the first published report of the expedition. Here Maximilianus called the port of March-
April 1521 "Messana" or "Massana," the two names for Mazaua that endured in Magellan
literature from the 16th century until 1894.

Properties of Mazaua as found in primary and secondary sources

From both eyewitness and secondhand accounts we are able to extract a complete and
exhaustive inventory of the properties and features of Mazaua. There are variations and
differences which are understandable in view of the fact that these records that have
survived are mere copies of original documents which are now lost. The copyists were
dealing with foreign nomenclatures for the first time so mistakes in spelling and other
errors have been introduced to the body of literature resulting to confused interpretation.
Added to this are errors of transcription by succeeding readers who have to "decipher"
the longhand of Renaissance copyists called cancelleresco.

Inventory of Mazaua's properties:

1. Name: Mazzavua, Mazaua, Mazana, Mazzaua (Pigafetta); Maçaguoa, Maçagnoa,

Maçangor, Maquamguoa (The Genoese Pilot); Maçagua, Maçaguaba (de Mafra); Mazaba
(Albo); Maçava (Ayamonte); Mazagua (Herrera); Mazaba (de Brito);

2. Role of Isle: anchorage from March 28-April 4, 1521, from where it sailed for
Gatighan at 10° N (Pigafetta);

3. Circumference: 3-4 leguas or 9-12 nautical miles which converts to from 2,213 to
3,930 hectares (de Mafra);

4. Location of Isle: South of or below 1521 Butuan some 15 leguas or 45 nautical miles
below (de Mafra);

5. Latitude: 9° N (The Genoese Pilot & de Brito); 9° 20' N (Albo in London manuscript);
9° 40' N (Pigafetta and Albo in Madrid manuscript);

6. Name of Isle's king: "Siaiu" and "Siau" (Pigafetta);

7. Location of port: West of the isle (de Mafra & Pigafetta);

8. Kind of port: Very good (de Mafra, explicitly states; Pigafetta, implied by fact the fleet
of 3 ships even went near the village of the king);

9. Direction of the Isle: "Extends north by east by west" (Albo);

10. Shape of Isle: Near circular like a sting ray (as drawn in Pigafetta map);

11. Language of the people of Mazaua: Has the word "masawa" which is found only in
Butuanon as well as its scion Taosug, and is derived from the fact Siaiu was a brother of
the king of Butuan, Colambu (Pigafetta);
12. Presence of gold: Plenty (Pigafetta);

13. Presence of gold mines: Plenty (Pigafetta);

14. Rice hectarage: Considerable (Pigafetta);

15. Wild game: Considerable as to afford regular hunting by Siaiu and Colambu
(Pigafetta);

16. Distance from Homonhon to Mazaua: 25 leguas or 100 nautical miles (Pigafetta);

17. Distance from Mazaua to 10 degrees N: 20 leguas or 80 nautical miles (Pigafetta &
Albo);

18. Distance from Mazaua to Cebu: 35 leguas or 140 nautical miles;

19. Location of cross: Atop hill west of the isle (Pigafetta);

20. Location of village: Southwest facing a cove (Pigafetta);

21. Kind of houses: On stilts or tall posts (Pigafetta);

22. Slope of hill on which cross is planted: Gently rising as to allow limping Magellan to
climb (Pigafetta);

23. Number of wife/ves: Only one christened Lisabeta in Cebu (Pigafetta);

24. Ties with Cebu king Humabon: Blood relative (de Mafra & Herrera);

25. Site of an Easter Sunday mass, the “first mass”, as written by Antonio Pigafetta.

Accounts that saw print before eyewitness reports

As earlier stated, Maximilianus' letter was the first that reported on Magellan's voyage.
His names for the isle, Messana and Massana, prevailed all throughout from the 16th
century all the way to 1890 when the real name, Mazzava, with v having the value of w,
came out in the English biography of Magellan by F.H.H. Guillemard.
In 1526, a French translation of Pigafetta, ''Le voyage et nauigation faict par les
Espaignolz es Isles de Mollucques'', from an Italian original was published in limited
number in Paris. This is called the ''Colines'' edition, after the name of the printer.

A retranslation back to Italian of the ''Colines'' edition saw print in 1536 anonymously
and without the name of the printer or the place of publication. Its title, ''Il viaggio fatto
da gli Spagniuoli a torno a'l mondo''. The speculation is that this was printed at Venice by
Zoppini but there is no evidence to support the claim.

This Italian retranslation is where a crucial error was made that would lead to present-day
conundrum on the anchorage at Mazaua. Here Mazaua is removed and replaced by
"Buthuan" sometimes spelled "Buthuam" with an m. How this transposition came about
and why is beyond explanation. In the four extant manuscripts of Pigafetta--which
scholars agree are mere copies of an original or originals--there is no way it can be
mistaken that the port is named other than Mazaua. Even in the ''Colines'' edition, the
name is clearly "Messana" not "Buthuan."

In 1550 this same work, with the "Buthuan" intact, is published in a compendium of
travel stories in a book entitled Primo Volume delle Navigationi et Viaggi...published at
Venice by Antonio Giunti. The Italian translation of Pigafetta is titled Viaggio attorno il
mondo scritto per M. Antonio Pigafetta...tradotto di lingua francese nella Italiana.This is
reprinted in 1554 without attribution to the translator. Only in the reprint of 1563 is the
name of the translator, Giovanni Battista Ramusio, shown. Succeeding editions came in
1588, 1606, and 1613.

There are two known versions of Ramusio's work, one is represented by the English
translation The Decades of the Newe Worlde or West India...Wrytten by Peter
Martyr...and translated into Englysshe by Rycharde Eden. London, G. Power, 1555. The
other is the English translation Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas His Pilgimes,
Containing a History of the World in Sea Voyages and Lande Travells by Englishmen
and others By Samuel Purchas, B.D., Volume II. Glasgow, 1625. The first version talks
of a mass at "Buthuan" on March 31, 1521 followed by the planting of a big cross atop
the highest hill. The second version mentions no mass in "Buthuan", only the planting of
a cross. These differing versions will reach the hands of two 17th century religious
historians that will lead directly to the confusion as to what Mazaua really was.

References Bergreen, Laurence. Over the Edge of the World, Magellan's Terrifying
Circumnavigation of the Globe. HarperCollins: New York, 2003.

Combés, Francisco. Historia de las islas de Mindanao, Iolo y sus adyacentes. W.E.
Retana (ed.): Madrid, 1897.

Defense Mapping Agency. ''Pub. 162 Sailing Directions (Enroute). Philippine Islands 3''.
Washington D.C., 1993.

de Jesus, Vicente C. (2002). Mazaua Historiography. Retrieved February 27, 2007, from
MagellansPortMazaua mailing list:<http: escalante="" alvarado="" garcia=""
de.="">Colección de documentos inéditos relativos al descubrimiento, conquesta y
organización de las Antiguas posesiones españolas en América y Oceania (42 v., Madrid,
1864-1884), tomo v, pp. 117-209.

Herrera, Antonio de. Historia general de los hechos de los Castellanos en las islas y
tierrafirme del mar oceano, t. VI. Angel Gonzalez Palencia 9 ed.): Madrid, 1947.

Howgego, Raymond John. 2002. Encyclopedia of Exploration. Sydney: Hordern House.

Joyner, Tim. Magellan. International Marine: Maine, 1992.

Mafra, Ginés de. Libro que trata del descubrimiento y principio del estrecho que se llama
de Magallanes. National Library Museum; ed. by A. Blázquez and D. Aguilera: Madrid,
1920.

Medina, José Toribio. El Descubrimiento del Océano Pacífico: Vasco Nuñez Balboa,
Hernando de Magallanes y Sus Compañeros. Imprenta Universitaria: Chile, 1920.

Morison, Samuel Eliot. The European Discovery of America, The Southern Voyages
1492-1616. Oxford University Press: New York, 1974.

Noone, Martin J. The Discovery and Conquest of the Philippines 1521-1581. Richview
Browne & Nolan Limited: Ireland, 1983.
Ramusio, Gian Battista. La Detta navigatione per messer Antonio Pigafetta Vicentino. In:
Delle navigatione... Venice: Pp. 380-98.

Rebelo, Gabriel. 1561. Historia das ilhas de Maluco. In: Documentação para a História
das Missões do Padroado Português do Oriente: Insulíndia. Lisboã: Agencia Geral do
Ultramar. 1955. Cited by José Manuel Garcia in As Filipinas na historiografía portuguesa
do século XVI, Centro Portugués de Estudos do Sudeste Asiático, Porto: 2003.

Santisteban, Fray Geronimo de. 1546. Colección de documentos inéditos relativos al

descubrimiento, conquesta y organización de las Antiguas posesiones españolas en
América y Oceania (42 v., Madrid, 1864-1884), tomo v., pp. 151-165.

Schumacher, John N. "The First Mass in the Philippines". In: Kasaysayan 6: National
Historical Institute: Manila, 1981.

Torodash, Martin. "Magellan Historiography" In: Hispanic American Historical Review,

LI (May 1971), 313-335.

Mazaua historiography on the Internet

URLs of primary sources 1. Antonio Pigafetta -- Ambrosiana codex, transcription by

Carlo Amoretti (French translation), 1801 Premier voyage autour du monde par le
chevalier Francesco Antonio Pigafetta sur l'escadre de Magellan, pendant les années
1519-20-21-22, suivi de l'esxtrait du Traité de navigation du même auteur et d'une notice
sur le chev. Martin de Behain. Paris, H.J. de Jansen. (English translation by John
Pinkerton downloadable for free at
http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=WxsnAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA288&dq=Pigafetta%2
7s+Voyage+Round+the+World&lr=&ei=i-0xSYDtHpuKkAS526zADQ&hl=en). Carlo
Amoretti was the first to assert “Limassaua” is Mazaua, not having read Fr. Francisco
Combés, S.J., who invented the word “Limassaua” was was meant to dismiss Mazaua as
the isle where an Easter Sunday mass was held. --Manuscript 5650 translation by Lord
Stanley of Alderley, Henry Edward John Stanley, Baron
http://dlxs.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=sea;view=toc;idno=sea061 (1874), Pp.
35-163
--Ambrosiana (Italian) codex, transcribed by Andrea da Mosto and translated by James
Alexander Robertson, Blair and Robertson, vol. 1, no. 33 (Downloadable for free at
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-
idx?c=philamer;cc=philamer;rgn=full%20text;idno=afk2830.0001.033;didno=AFK2830.
0001.033;view=image;seq=13;page=root;size=s;frm=frameset;)

2. Francisco Albo account, from London manuscript, as translated into English by Lord
Stanley at http://dlxs.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=sea;view=toc;idno=sea061
(1874), Pp. 211-236.

3. The Genoese Pilot’s account, Paris manuscript, as translated into English by Lord
Stanley at http://dlxs.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=sea;view=toc;idno=sea061
(1874), Pp. 1-29.

4. Ginés de Mafra account, original Spanish text of Chaps. XI and XII, and English
translation by Raymond John Howgego, at ff.: a)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:First_mass_in_the_Philippines b)
http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Talk:Gines_de_Mafra

5. Martin de Ayamonte account, English translation by Raymond John Howgego at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mart%C3%ADn_de_Ayamonte

URLs of secondary sources

1. Maximilianus Transylvanus, whose story was based on interview with three survivors
of the Magellan voyage, English translation by Lord Stanley of Alderley at
http://dlxs.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=sea;view=toc;idno=sea061 (1874),
Pp.179-210

2. Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, whose story of Mazaua was based on papers of

Andres de San Martin, fleet chief pilot-astrologer. De Herrera’s account is the source of
the word “masawa” to which were added a no. of prefixes, e.g., “Di” by Fr. Francisco
Colin; “Li” by Fr. Francisco Combés; Fr. Francisco de San Antonio, “Bi”; F. Redondo,
“Si”. Go to Page 8 of
http://www.memoriachilena.cl/temas/documento_detalle.asp?id=MC0012406
URLs of main source that led to the Mazaua conundrum

1. Giovanni Battista Ramusio

--Italian text that points to Butuan as the anchorage of March 28-April 4, 1521 where a
mass was held on Easter Sunday followed by planting of a cross at highest hill in Butuan,
go to
http://www.bibliotecaitaliana.it/xtf/view?docId=bibit001323/bibit001323.xml&chunk.id=
d6313e18525&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d6313e18525&brand=default

--English translation by Samuel Purchas of an edition of Ramusio which was the source
of Fr. Francisco Combés account of the anchorage of March 28-April 45, 1521 at Butuan,
Haklvytvs posthumus, or, Pvrchas his Pilgrimes. Contayning a history of the world, in
sea voyages, & lande-trauells, by Englishmen and others ... Some left written by Mr.
Hakluyt at his death, more since added, his also perused, & perfected. All examined,
abreuiated, illustrates w[i]th notes, enlarged w[i]th discourses, adorned w[i]th pictures,
and expressed in mapps. In fower parts, each containing fiue bookes. [Compiled] by
Samvel Pvrchas. Go to http://international.loc.gov/cgi-
bin/ampage?collId=rbdk&fileName=d0401//rbdkd0401.db&recNum=271&itemLink=r%
3Fintldl%2Frbdkbib%3A%40field(NUMBER%2B%40od1(rbdk%2Bd0401))&linkText=
0 and http://international.loc.gov/cgi-
bin/ampage?collId=rbdk&fileName=d0401//rbdkd0401.db&recNum=272&itemLink=r%
3Fintldl%2Frbdkbib%3A%40field(NUMBER%2B%40od1(rbdk%2Bd0401))&linkText=
0 Mazaua as it appears (inset) in the extant Italian codex, popularly called the
Ambrosiana, of Antonio Pigafetta's firsthand account of Magellan's voyage. Note the
spread of the island. It was here where Magellan's fleet was moored from March 28 up to
April 4, 1521.Mazaua as it appears in one of three surviving manuscripts in French of
Antonio Pigafetta. The isle's significance in the context of navigation is it was here Ginés
de Mafra proved the reliability of the technology for reaching any point on this planet. In
the Philippines, its importance is almost exclusively tied to an Easter Sunday mass that
was held on the island on March 31, 1521. Limasawa taken from the air. The word
Limasawa was invented in 1667 by Fr. Francisco Combés, S.J., who had not read a single
eyewitness account. His Limasawa story, just three paragraphs, has no reference to a
mass of whatever kind having been held anywhere in the Philippines, least of all in his
Limasawa which in his story represented three disparate islands in the true story of
Magellan's voyage, Suluan, Homonhon, and Gatighan. It is pseudohistory. See
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?v=app_2347471856&ref=profile&id=761273501<
/http:>
Agusan river

Agusan River is a river located in the eastern part of Mindanao island in the Philippines, draining
majority of the Caraga Region and some parts of Compostela Valley province. It is the third
largest river basin of the Philippines with a total drainage area of 10,921 km² and an estimated
length of 350 kilometers from its origin. The headwaters of the river is found in the mountains of
Compostela Valley, near its border with Davao Oriental and east of Tagum City. It flows through
the wide Agusan River valley which measures 177 kilometers (110 mi) from south to north and
varies from 32-48 kilometers (20–30 miles) in width. It finally drains into the Butuan Bay at its
mouth in Butuan City. The river is also the third longest river in the Philippines

Colonial period

On March 31, 1521, an Easter Sunday, Ferdinand Magellan ordered a mass to be celebrated. This
was officiated by Friar Pedro Valderrama, the Andalusian chaplain of the fleet, the only priest
then. Another priest, the French Bernard Calmette (Bernardo Calmeta) had been marooned at
Patagonia

with Juan de Cartagena for being implicated in

the mutiny at Puerto San Julián.

Conducted near the shores of the island, the

Holy First Mass marked the birth of Roman
Catholicism in the Philippines.

Rajah Colambu and Siaiu were said to be First Mass at Limasawa

among the first natives of the soon-to-be
Spanish colony to attend the mass among
other Mazaua inhabitants, together with visitors from Butuan who came with the entourage of
Colambu, king of

Butuan.[citation needed]
Controversy has been generated regarding the holding of the first mass—whether it was held in
Limasawa, Leyte in Masao, Butuan City, in the hidden isle made up of barangays Pinamanculan and
Bancasi inside Butuan, in the latest discovered

site in between Agusan del Sur and Surigao del Sur, the small barangay of Barobo, or elsewhere.

It is sure, however, that Ferdinand Magellan did not drop anchor by the mouth of Agusan River in
1521 and hold mass to commemorate the event which was held at Mazaua, an island separate from
1521 Butuan which, in the geographical

conception of Europeans who wrote about it, was a larger entity than what it is now. Antonio
Pigafetta who wrote an eyewitness account of Magellan's voyage described in text and in map a
Butuan that stretched from today's Surigao up to the

top edge of Zamboanga del Norte.[citation needed]