Vilbar, Zyrah Luke E.

Section: MLS-1C
‘First Easter Sunday mass was held in Limasawa, Province of
Southern Leyte’

In a statement released on August 18, the NHCP affirmed the findings of the investigation
conducted by the panel of scholars that the commission created in 2018, recommending the
recognition of Limasawa, located in today’s Southern Leyte, as the site of the said event.
A law was passed by Congress on June 19, l960, or Republic Act No. 2733, declared the site of
Magallanes on Limasawa Island as the national shrine to commemorate the first Mass ever held
in the country that gave birth to Christianity in this now predominantly Catholic nation. The
legislative fiat declared the site in Magallanes, Limasawa Island in the Province of Leyte, where
the first Mass in the Philippines was held is hereby declared a national shrine to commemorate
the birth of Christianity in the Philippines. Magallanes is east of the island of Limasawa.
The pro-Limasawa groups, used the accounts written by Antonio Pigafetta, who was part of
Ferdinand Magellan's voyage to the Philippines. Among the first scholars who looked into the
topic of the 1521 Easter Sunday mass were Trinidad Pardo de Tavera and Pablo Pastells and both
concluded that the mass was held in Limasawa. The Easter Sunday mass was held in Limasawa
on March 31, 1521 and was celebrated by Fr. Pedro Valderama, the chaplain of the expedition.
The panel also noted that it is using the term "Easter Sunday Mass" to refer to it, since the
Spaniards arrived in the Philippine territory during Holy Week and Valderama probably
celebrated some undocumented masses while they were at sea.
The NHCP panel examined the Italian and French version of Italian chronicler Antonio Pigafetta’s
accounts in the Magellan-Elcano expedition, which showed the coordinates of the 1521 Easter Sunday
Mass are closer to Limasawa. The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) settled the
controversy over the official site of the 1521 Easter Sunday Mass in the country by favoring Limasawa in
Southern Leyte instead of Masao in Butuan City.

Evidence:

 On March 16, 1521 as they sailed in a westerly course from Ladrones or known as Mariana
Island (Island of Guam) at the present, they saw land towards the northwest but they didn't
landed there due to shallow places and later found its name as Yunagan (identified to be
Sourthern Leyte). On that same day, they went in a small island called Suluan which is a part
of Samar and there they anchored. Leaving from those two islands, they sailed westward to
an island of Gada where they took in a supply of wood and water from that island, they
sailed towards west to a large island called Seilani (now Leyte). Along the coast of Seilani,
they sailed southwards and turned southwest until they reached the island of Mazava. From
there, they sailed northwards again towards the Island of Seilani and followed the coast of
Seilani towards northwest and saw three small islands. They sailed westwards and saw
three islets where they anchored for the night. In the morning, they sailed southwest. There,
 they entered canal between two island, one of which was called Subu (now called Cebu) and
the other was Matan (now called Mactan). They sailed towards southwest on that canal then
turned westward and anchored at the town of Subu wherein they stayed there for many
days.
 In Albo’s Version, the location of Mazava fits the location of the island of Limasawa, at
the southern tip of Leyte,9°54’N(( degress, 24 minutes to North). Did not mention the
first Mass, only the planting of the cross upon a mountain top. Pigafetta’s Testimony on
the Route of Magellan’s Expedition March 16, 1521 –Magellan’s expedition sighted a
“high land” named Zamal which was some 300 leagues westward of Ladrones (now that
Marianas) islands.
 March 17 –They land on another island which was uninhabited, and which lay to the right
of the above-mentioned island of Zamal.
 Pigafetta narrated on his account the events happened from March 16, 1521 when they first
saw the Island of the Philippine group up to April 7, 1521 when the expedition landed on
Cebu. On March 16, 1521, there was a "high land" named "Zamal" that was sighted by the
Magellan's expedition which was some 300 leagues westward of the Ladrones Island. On
March 17, 1521, they landed on "uninhabited island" or known as "Humunu" (Homonhon -
Homonhon Island is an island in the province of Eastern Samar, Philippines, on the east
side of Leyte Gulf.) which Pigafetta referred to as "Watering place of good signs" because
the place is abundant in gold. Humunu lays right of Zamal at 10 degrees north latitude. They
stayed there 8 days from March 17 to 25, 1521.
 On March 25, 1521, they left the island of Homonhon and change route towards west
southwest, between four islands: namely, Cenalo, Hiunanghan, Ibusson, and Albarien.
Afterwards, they sail westward towards Leyte, then followed the Leyte coast southward
passing between the island of Ibusson on their port side and Hiunangan bay on their
starboard, and then continued southward, the returning westward to Mazaua. On March 28,
1521, there is an island lies on a latitude of 9 and 2/3 towards the arctic pole and in a
longitude 100 and 62 degrees from the line of demarcation. It is named as Mazaua which is
25 leagues from the Acquada.
 On April 4, 1521, they left Mazaua bound for Cebu and guided by their King who sailed on
his own boat. 
 All throughout their route, it took them past five island namely: Ceylon, Bohol, Canighan,
Baibai, and Gatighan. They sailed from Mazaua west by northwest into the Canigao channel,
with Bohol island to port and Leyte and Canigao islands to starboard. Then they continue
sailing northwards along the Leyte coast, past Baibai to Gatighan (it was 20 leagues from
Mazaua and 15 leagues from Subu or Cebu. At Gatighan, they sailed westward to the three
island of the Camotes group namely: Poro, Pasihan, and Ponson. From the Camotes Island
they sailed southwestward towards "Zubu". On April 7 they entered the harbor of "Zubu"
(Cebu). It takes them three days to negotiate the journey from Mazaua northwards to
the Camotes Islands and then southwards to Cebu. That was the route of Magellan
expedition as stated in the account of Pigafetta. In that route, the southernmost point
reached before getting to Cebu was Mazaua, located at nine and two-thirds degrees North
latitude.

 On March 31, 1521, an Easter Sunday, Magellan ordered a Mass to be celebrated which
was officiated by Father Pedro Valderrama, the Andalusion chaplain of the fleet, the only
priest then. Conducted near the shores of the island, the First Holy Mass marked the birth
of Roman Catholicism in the Philippines. Colambu and Siaiu were the first natives of the
 archipelago, which was not yet named "Philippines" until the expedition of Ruy Lopez de
Villalobos in 1543, to attend the Mass among other native inhabitants. [9][11]
 During the stay of Magellan and his crew in the inhabited island of Humunu as what
Pigafetta has documented in his Chronicles, according to Gomez (2019) [citation needed], argues that
the "first mass" on Philippine soil was not in ''Agusan'' nor Southern ''Leyte'' and pointed out
Palm Sunday must have been celebrated first before the mass on Easter Sunday, which is
obviously practiced up until today.
 In the account of Pigafetta, Gomez noticed that he failed to mention some points of the
journey where the masses were held, one example is when they were at the port of San
Julian. Pigafetta mentioned about a mass held on Palm Sunday which was held on April 1,
1520 during their voyage to the west but never mentioned about Easter Sunday. Same
situation happened when the fleet arrived in the Philippines, Pigafetta only mentioned about
the Easter Sunday Mass while he is silent on the Palm Sunday.
 [1] For further investigation, some points at Pigafetta's account was translated as follows:
''"At dawn on Saturday, March 16, 1521, (feast of St. Lazarus, Gomez inserted) 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 in
order 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."''
 As observed by Gomez, the instance wherein Pigafetta had written about the mass said it
had two things in common; they are both held in the shores and there are Filipino natives
present. Another passing evidence, a document found concerning the landing of Magellan's
fleet in Suluan ''(Homonhon)'' and the treaty with the natives featured in a blog post in 2004.
[12]
 It first came out in an article published in 1934 in Philippine Magazine featured by Percy
Gil, and once again featured by Bambi Harper in her column at the Philippine Daily Inquirer
back in 2004.
 In the afternoon of the same day, Magellan instructed his comrades to plant a large wooden
cross on the top of the hill overlooking the sea.[13] Magellan's chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta,
who recorded the event said:
"After the cross was erected in position, each of us repeated a Pater Noster and an Ave Maria,
and adored the cross; and the kings [Colambu and Siaiu] did the same." [14]
 Magellan then took ownership of the islands where he had landed in the name of King
Charles V which he had named earlier on March 16 Archipelago of Saint Lazarus because it
was the day of the saint when the Armada reached the archipelago. [9][11]
 In the Account of Francisco Albo, he did not mention about the first mass in the Philippines
but only the planting of the cross upon a mountain top from which could be seen three
islands to the west and southwest, where they were told there was much gold. This also fits
the southern end of Limasawa. It does not suit the coast of Butuan from which no islands
could be seen to the south or the southwest, but only towards the north.
 This account rooted from the misunderstanding of the meeting between the three persons.
According to Pigafetta, Magellan met the datu of Limasawa, and another datu, whom the
scribe himself called "one of his brothers", namely the king of Butuan. This highlights the
 origin of the confusion – Magellan in fact never went to Butuan; he and his men celebrated
the first mass on the island of Limasawa, together with the two datus: one from the island
and another from Butuan, before proceeding to Cebu.
 In reality, Magellan's route never included Butuan as one of its destinations. From the
eastern part of the Philippines, reaching the island of Homonhon, Magellan proceeded
to Limasawa and thereupon met two kings, namely the datu of Limasawa and the datu
of Butuan. After celebrating the first mass in that same island, the explorer and his men set
out for Cebu in search for greater resources.

 The Balanghai’s prove almost no relation to the first mass whatsoever, if we even think
about it, they could have used it for just normal trading and transportation, what say you?
 Their last evidence presented which is the balanghays, is no conclusive evidence as to Butuan being
the site of the first mass, as those balanghays could have been used for a multitude of other reasons.

REFERENCES
https://mb.com.ph/2020/08/20/first-easter-sunday-mass-was-held-in-limasawa-natl-historical-commission/

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2006/04/02/329389/butuan-pursue-claim-it-was-site-first-mass-rp-485-years-ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Mass_in_the_Philippines

https://news.abs-cbn.com/amp/news/08/20/20/limasawa-not-butuan-govt-historians-affirm-site-of-1521-easter-sunday-mass-in-
ph?__twitter_impression=true

https://manilastandard.net/lgu/vizayas/332060/limasawa-not-masao-named-first-easter-site.html

https://www.cnn.ph/news/2020/8/20/NHCP-affirms-Limasawa-Island-as-site-of-first-Catholic-mass-in-the-country.html