RPH TOPIC 1

• The first Catholic Mass in the Philippines was celebrated in Butuan, as evidenced by a monument erected in 1872 near Agusan River, which commemorates the expedition's arrival and celebration of Mass on 8 April 1521.
• The claim of Butuan as the site of the first Mass has been based on a rather elementary reading of primary sources from the event.
• Antonio Sanchez de Mora, an expert on Spanish medieval history, stated that the first Easter Mass in the Philippines was held in 1521 on the island of Mazaua, known today as Limasawa Island, Leyte.
• Antonio Sanchez de Mora grouped his sources into four: documents written during Ferdinand Magellan’s historic expedition around the world, reports and testimonies of the survivors who managed to make it back to Europe, chronicles and other primary sources by authors who interviewed the survivors and who consulted their documents as well as maps and nautical charts, and secondary sources that years later interpreted the information provided by the primary sources and the testimonies transmitted over time.
• There are only two primary sources that historians refer to in identifying the site of the first Mass: the account by Antonio Pigafetta, Primo viaggio Intorno al mondo (First voyage Around the world), and the log kept by Francisco Albo, a pilot of one of Magellan's ships, Trinidad.
• Antonio Pigafetta, like Albo, was a member of the Magellan expedition and an eyewitness of the events, particularly, of the first Mass.
• One of the 18 survivors who returned with Sebastian Elcano on the ship Victoria after they circumnavigated the world, Francisco Albo was a pilot of one of Magellan's ships, Trinidad.
• The log kept by Francisco Albo is a primary source for the location of the first Mass.
• The log kept by Francisco Albo describes a trip in a river, which happened after Magellan’s death.
• The account by Antonio Pigafetta, Primo viaggio Intorno al mondo, describes a trip in a river, which also happened after Magellan’s death.
• The site of the first Mass in the Philippines was identified as Butuan based on a rather elementary reading of primary sources from the event.
• Albo's and Pigafetta's testimonies coincide and corroborate each other.
• Of the three, Zubu was the port with the most trade.
• The kings replied that there were three to choose from: Ceylon, Zubu, and Calagan.
• Albo does not mention the first Mass, but only the planting of the cross upon a mountain-top from which could be seen three islands to the west and southwest, which also fits the southern end of Limasawa.
• The kings replied that the pilots would be available "any time".
• The King of Mazaua asked Magellan to send men to help with the harvest.
• Work on the harvest was done during the next two days, i.e., Tuesday and Wednesday, the 2nd and 3rd of April.
• On Thursday, April 4, they left Mazaua, bound for Cebu.
• Later that evening, the King of Mazaua changed his mind and said that he would himself conduct Magellan to Zubu but that he would first have to bring the harvest in.
• Magellan then said that he wished to go to Zubu and to depart the following morning.
• On Sunday, March 31, while on the summit of the highest hill, Magellan asked the two kings which ports he should go to in order to obtain more abundant supplies of food than were available in that island.
• Magellan asked for someone to guide him thither.
• Pigafetta gave more details on what they did during their weeklong stay at Mazaua.
• A monument commemorating the first Mass in the Philippines was erected in 1872 near Agusan River.
• Toward the end of the nineteenth century and the start of the twentieth century, a more nuanced reading of the available evidence was made, which brought to light more considerations in going against the more accepted interpretation of the first Mass in the Philippines, made both by Spanish and Filipino scholars.
• There are only two primary sources that historians refer to in identifying the site of the first Mass: the account by Antonio Pigafetta, Primo viaggio Intorno al mondo, and the log kept by Francisco Albo.