FIRST MASS

• First Mass


  The first documented Catholic Mass in the Philippines was held on March 31, 1521, Easter Sunday
• First Mass


  • It was conducted by Father Pedro Valderrama of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition along the shores of what was referred to in the journals of Antonio Pigafetta as "Mazaua"
• Today


  The site is widely believed by many historians and the government to be Limasawa off the tip of Southern Leyte
• Until at least the 19th century


  The prevailing belief was that the first mass was held in Butuan
• Some assert that the first mass was instead held at Masao, Butuan
• To end the conflict for the issue about the first mass

  The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) panel adapted the recommendation and unanimously agreed that the evidence and arguments presented by the pro-Butuan advocates are not sufficient and convincing enough to warrant the repeal or reversal of the ruling on the case by the National Historical Institute (the NHCP's forerunner)
• It is further strengthen by the evidence that it was only after 22 years, in 1543 —when a Spanish expedition led by Ruy López de Villalobos landed in Mindanao
• Some Filipino historians have long contested the idea that Limasawa was the site of the first Catholic mass in the country
• In 1995, Agusan del Norte's 1st congressional district Representative Ching Plaza filed a bill in Congress contesting the Limasawa hypothesis and asserting that the "site of the first mass" was in Butuan
• The Congress of the Philippines referred the matter to the National Historical Institute for it to study the issue and recommend a historical finding
• NHI chairman Dr. Samuel K. Tan reaffirmed Limasawa as the site of the first mass
• It was until at least the 19th century that the prevailing belief among historians was that the first mass was held in Butuan
• Confusion


  The confusion originated on the misinterpretation of some of the 17th century historians such as Colin and Combes, often yielding incorrect representation of Magellan's voyage, which ultimately led to the misconception of the first mass being held at Butuan, rather than Limasawa
• The writings of the previous historians failed to depict the correct route of Magellan's ships toward the Philippines
• Some write-ups accounted for the entrance of the ships from the southern part of the country whereas the account of Antonio Pigafetta revealed the entrance from the eastern part of the country, from the direction of the Pacific region
• The National Historical Institute (NHI) first took action on the Limasawa Butuan controversy in 1980 followed by the creation of two more panels in 1995 and 2008
• The government has consistently concluded Limasawa as the site of the first Easter Sunday Mass in the country
• Another panel led by prominent historian Resil B. Mojares was formed in 2018 by now National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) to further review continued claims in favor of Butuan
• The pro-Butuan group presented non-eyewitness accounts decades after the Mass as their proofs
• The pro-Limasawa group provided the panel coordinates of Mazaua given by the eyewitnesses, studies and projects that retraced the Magellan–Elcano expedition using modern navigational instruments, and the copies of Pigafetta's original accounts
• The panel also endorsed the changes proposed by historian Rolando Borrinaga to recognize Triana instead of Magallanes as the specific site of the mass in Limasawa and Saub Point in Triana as the site of the cross planted by the Magellan expedition
• MONTHS before the 500th anniversary of the introduction of Christianity in the country, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) finally settled the official site of the 1521 Easter Sunday Mass by favoring Limasawa in Southern Leyte instead of Masao in Butuan City
• NHCP announced that it signed on July 15, 2020, Resolution No. 2, adopting the report submitted by the six-man panel of scholars led by historian and National Artist for Literature Dr. Resil Mojares who reviewed the issue surrounding the site of the 1521 Easter Sunday Mass in the Philippines
• The panel was convened in response to the requests from various institutions, including the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), even as the anticipation of the Filipino Catholic faithful had just begun for the 500th anniversary of the introduction of Christianity in the Philippines
• NHCP is mandated to "actively engage in the settlement or resolution of controversies or issues relative to historical personages, places, dates and events" based on Republic Act No. 10086 or Strengthening People's Nationalism Act of 2009
• Monsignor Oscar Cadayona of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Maasin, which includes Limasawa, expressed his elation over the official government pronouncement
• Dr. Rene Escalante, chairman of NHCP and executive director of the National Quincentennial Committee, said they revisited the issue surrounding the site of the 1521 Easter Sunday Mass in the Philippines as part of its mandate to resolve historical controversies
• Both panels ruled that the site of the 1521 Easter Sunday Mass was in Limasawa Island, now a municipality in Southern Leyte
• Limasawa celebrates the historic and religious coming of the Spaniards every March 31 with a cultural presentation and anniversary program dubbed as Sinugdan, meaning "beginning"
• Dr. Antonio Sanchez de Mora, an expert on Spanish medieval history and head of the reference service at the Archivo General de Indias in Seville, Spain, concluded that the first ever Easter Mass in the Philippines was held in 1521 on the island of Mazaua, known today as Limasawa Island, Leyte
• Mora presented his findings as the centerpiece of "500th Anniversary of the Mass at Limasawa: The Confusion and Contention over Mazaua," the second installment of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy Department of History's "Talastasan sa Kasaysayan" online lecture series held on Mar. 16, 4 p.m. over Zoom and broadcast over the the National Quincentennial Commission of the Philippines (NQC) portal
• 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
• Mora said the documents, primary sources and maps from the 16th century confirm that the island of Mazaua was the site of an Easter Sunday Mass on March 31, 1521 and that on a hill on this island a cross was raised to be seen from afar