THE SITE OF THE FIRST MASS
INTRODUCTION OF THE CONTROVERSY:
The first documented Catholic Mass in the Philippines was held on March 31, 1521, Easter Sunday. It
was conducted by Father Pedro de Valderrama of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition along the shores of
what was referred to in the journals of Antonio Pigafetta as "Mazaua". Antonio Pigafetta, chronicler of
the Magellan expedition, identified the place as “Mazaua.” Early accounts mainly by friars relying on
available writings and on tradition reported the First Mass as being held in Butuan, Agusan Del Norte,
specifically on an island called Masao.
The official declaration is that Mazaua is the island across from the southern tip of Leyte named
Limasawa. This is hotly disputed by those who insist that Mazaua is in Butuan and is the true site of the
First Mass. They question the reasoning and accuracy of the studies leading to the decision favoring
Limasawa. The Philippines were claimed in the name of Spain in 1521 by Ferdinand Magellan, a
Portuguese explorer sailing for Spain, who named the islands after King Philip II of Spain. They were
then called Las Felipinas. By the 1830's Spanish culture and thought had penetrated into Filipino culture
to the extent that the Filipino people began thinking about liberation from Spain. The government of
Spain developed Filipino agriculture to the point that it was self-sufficient.
The first-ever Christian Mass in the country on March 31, 1521, was celebrated on the island of
Limasawa, south of Leyte and not in Butuan City, so declared the National Historical Institute. 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. 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. 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 on an island which he called ''Mazaua.''
SIDE AND EVIDENCES OF CONTROVERSY:
The precise identity and location of this venue of the First Mass became the subject of writings of
historians 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. The Butuan belief persisted from the 17th to the
19th century. Limasawa was identified as the most likely venue in 1894 with the publication of a
manuscript of Pigafetta's account of Magellan's voyage the Ambrosian codex in Milan--in its Italian text.
This work written by Pigafetta was made available to scholars including American James Alexander
Robertson who translated into English the original text with the help of Emma Blair. The translation was
incorporated in Robertson's ''The Philippine Islands.'' According to Fr. Miguel A. Bernal, SJ, an author,
the only versions of Pigafetta's account available to previous scholars were ''summaries and garbled
translations. But the controversy did not stop there. In 1995, the Masao group through Butuan Rep.
Charito Plaza, initiated the filing of a bill, to ''Declare the site of Masao, Butuan City, as the place where
the first Easter Mass in the Philippines was held.'' The bill was not acted upon. The bill, which aggravated
the controversy, was obviously an attempt to repeal Republic Act 2733, a law enacted in 1960, ''declaring
the site in Magallanes, Limasawa Island in the province of Leyte, where the First Mass in the Philippines
was held as a national shrine.'' Four hundred seventy-eight years and the celebration begins. Now,
Southern Leyteños and the rest of the Filipino people could heave a sigh of relief over the controversy
surrounding the site of the First Mass which ushered in the Christianization of the Philippines. The issue
is resolved.
THE STAND:
POSITIVE STAND – There are a lot of article, information, controversy even debates about the first mass
we read many things research about the first mass, quite convince in what we heard why we agree about
this our instructor already discuss or brief us about this that’s why while we search we see familiar words
or phrases that my instructor says that helps us stand this answer.
NEGATIVE STAND – Though there are many information about this there are also information that will
make your understanding twisted because some of them doesn’t have the information we are finding or
the key word that were finding. Some of it doesn’t make sense at all or there are some articles that you
already understand about but once you seek more, the one that you understand in the previous one will
make you confuse that your understanding makes you twisted and confuse.
FINAL STAND – I stand or we stand because we have a reason though it is already 500 years since the
first mass started and Four hundred seventy-eight years and the celebration begins. Now, Southern
Leyteños and the rest of the Filipino people could heave a sigh of relief over the controversy surrounding
the site of the First Mass which ushered in the Christianization of the Philippines. The issue is resolved.
This information that we seek and quite understand helps us stand are answer and in what we believe.
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