Where was the First Mass celebrated?

Ferdinand Magellan and his European crew saw a land to the northwest on March 16, 1521 as they sailed from Ladrones in a westerly path or known as Mariana Island at the present time, but they did not land there due to shallow places and later find its name as Yunagan. 

 

They went to a small island named Suluan on the same day, which is a part of Samar, and anchored there. They sailed westward from those two islands to the island of Gadda, where they took a supply of wood and water from that island and sailed west to a large island called Seilani (now Leyte).

 

The first recorded Catholic Mass in the Philippines took place on Easter Sunday, March 31, 1521. Father Pedro de Valderrama conducted it along the shores of what was referred to as 'Mazaua' in Antonio Pigafetta's journals.

 

What were the reason for celebrating Mass?

The reason for celebrating Mass is that Spaniards conquered islands to disseminate Catholicism, gain power through gold and to broaden their empire. It's an obvious act to officiate a mass in an island to give birth to Roman Catholicism in the Philippines. Furthermore, after the blood compact that Magellan made with Rajah Kolambu, the mass was held to celebrate the friendship that they built.

 

How will you describe the events that occurred during the first mass?

I can assume that during the first mass, the natives are overwhelmed in doing an event such as that the first time, and mind you about the planting of the cross where the same day in the afternoon, Magellan ordered his comrades to plant a large wooden cross overlooking the sea at the top of the hill. Antonio Pigafetta, the chronicler of Magellan, who documented the incident, 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."

 

What additional information can be given to answer the counter-claim of others?

The idea that Limasawa was the site of the first Catholic mass in the country has long been disputed by some Filipino historians. In Butuan, historian Sonia Zaide described Masao (also Mazaua) as the location of the first Christian mass. The diary of Antonio Pigafetta, chronicler of the voyage of Magellan, is the basis of Zaide's assertion.

 

What can be learned from controversy?

In 1995, Congresswoman Ching Plaza of Agusan del Norte-Butuan City filed a bill in Congress contesting the theory of Limasawa and asserting that Butuan was the "site of the first mass" To research the issue and recommend a historical finding, the Philippine Congress referred the matter to the National Historical Institute. Then Dr. Samuel K. Tan, chair of the National Historical Institute, reaffirmed Limasawa as the location of the first mass.

 

What conclusion can be made to end the controversy?

In 2018, another panel headed by renowned historian Resil B. Mojares was created by the Philippines National Historical Commission (NHCP) to further examine ongoing arguments in favor of Butuan. As their facts, the pro-Butuan community provided non-eyewitness accounts decades after the Mass.

 

In the meantime the pro-Limasawa party provided Mazaua's panel coordinates for eyewitnesses, studies and projects tracing the Magellan-Elcano expedition using modern navigational instruments, as well as copies of the original accounts of Pigafetta.

 

The National Historical Commission of the Philippines rejected the Butuan argument before the quincentennial celebration of the Christianization of the Philippines because of insufficient evidence to alter the current stance of the government and reaffirmed Limasawa as the site of the country's first Easter Sunday Mass.