SITE OF THE FIRST

MASS IN THE
PHILIPPINES
First Mass in the Philippines

• 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".
• However, until at least the 19th century, the prevailing belief was that
the first mass was held in Butuan. This belief is maintained by some,
who assert that the first mass was instead held at Masao, Butuan.
The first Catholic Mass in the Philippines was held on March
31,1521
(Eastern Sunday)
• Conducted Father Pedro de Valderrama
• Located at town islet named as limasawa in the tips of Southern Leyte
• A popular known as the birthplaceof the Church in the Philippines.
• Holy First Mass marked the birth of Roman Catholicism in the Philippines.

Father Pedro de Valderrama was the only priest in Magellan’s crew, who was given
the task of celebrating the first Holy Mass on the shores of Limasawa, an island at
the tip of Southern Leyte.
• A year after, it fell on March 24, 1521. We know that this particular Sunday is a
Christian moveable feast that falls on the last Sunday immediately before Easter.

• This year, we officially observe the 500th anniversary of Ferdinand Magellan’s

voyage, specifically his landing in what was to become Las Islas Filipinas, and
more so in connection with the supposed birth and introduction of Christianity in
the archipelago.
• The first documented catholic mass in the Philippines, this was
referred to, in the journals of Antonio Pigafetta as Mazaua.
Antonio Pigafetta
• around 1491 when he was born at Vicenza, Republic of Venice or was
know now as Italy and died at the aged of 39-40 around 1531
• He studied astronomy; geography and cartography
• Italian scholar and explorer from the Republic of Venice
• He travelled with the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his
crew on their First Voyage around the world
• He was one of the 18 men who returned to Spain in 1522
About:
• Antonio Pigafetta was a famous Italian traveler who studied navigation and
known by the name of Antonio Lambardo or Francisco Antonio Pigafetta. He
joined the Portuguese, Captain Ferdinand Magellan and his Spanish crew on their
trip to Maluku Island. Pigafetta has the most complete account of Magellan
expedition entitled Primo viaggio intorno al mondo (First Voyage around the
world). He was one of the eighteen survivors who returned to Spain aboard the
"Victoria" and therefore considered as an eyewitness of the significant events
happened on the first mass of which Magellan names it the Islands of Saint
Lazarus that is later called the Philippine Archipelago.
Blood Compact
• The island's sovereign ruler was Rajah Kolambu. When Magellan and comrades
set foot on the grounds of Mazaua, he befriended the Rajah together with his
brother Rajah Siagu of Butuan. In those days, it was customary among the
indigenous and in most of southeast Asia to seal friendship with a blood compact.
On instigation of Magellan who had heard the Malayan term for it, casi casi, the
new friends performed the ritual. This was the first recorded blood compact
between Filipinos and Spaniards. Gifts were exchanged by the two parties when
the celebration had ended.
Planting of the cross
• 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.
• 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.”
• 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.”
Proclamation of the national shrine

• On June 19, 1960, Republic Act No. 2733, known as the "Limasawa
Law", was enacted without executive approval on June 19, 1960. 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.
Historical controversies

• The historical accuracy regarding the country's first Catholic mass

celebration is not only to be settled based on location but also on
when it exactly occurred. The Mojares Panel addressed the debate by
specifying that the historical occasion that occurred in Limasawa
Island be known as the First Easter Sunday Mass, thereby
distinguishing it from prior masses that were conducted by the
Spaniards onboard their ships sailing through the sea surrounding
Samar and the earlier mass supposedly held in Bolinao, Pangasinan in
1324.
• Bolinao
Odoric of Pordenone, an Italian and Franciscan friar and missionary explorer, is heartily believed by many Pangasinenses to have
celebrated the first mass in Pangasinan in around 1324 that would have predated the mass held in 1521 by Ferdinand Magellan.
A marker in front of Bolinao Church states that the first Mass on Philippine soil was celebrated in Bolinao Bay in 1324 by a 
Franciscan missionary, Blessed Odorico.
• Homonhon
A position paper submitted by the chancellor of the Diocese of Borongan to the NHCP stated that the Magellan expedition
reached the shores of Homonhon on March 16, 1521 and remained for eight days, which coincided two Sundays and the 
Holy Week. The paper's assertion claimed that by deducing from the timing of their arrival and the liturgical calendar in use in
1521, there were no less than four masses, including the Palm Sunday mass on their last day on the island, held in Homonhon
before the expedition made their voyage to Limasawa Island.
Borongan, officially the City of Borongan  is a 1st class component city and capital of the province of Eastern Samar, Philippines.
• Masao
Filipino historians have long contested the idea that Limasawa was the site of the first Catholic mass in the country. Historian
Sonia Zaide identified Masao (also Mazaua) in Butuan as the location of the first Christian mass.The basis of Zaide's claim is the
diary of Antonio Pigafetta, chronicler of Magellan's voyage. 
Confusion on meeting the king of Butuan

• According to Bernad (2002), 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.
Government position

• 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. Meanwhile, 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 quincentennial celebration of the Christianization of the
Philippines, the NHCP dismissed the Butuan claim due to insufficient
evidences to change the government's current position and
reaffirmed Limasawa as the site of the first Easter Sunday Mass in the
country.
 
•  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.
• Potenciano R. Malvar, the chair of the Butuan Calagan Historical
Cultural Foundation and proponent of the Butuan claim, filed a
lawsuit in response to the panel's conclusions alleging libel and
falsification against the Mojares Panel and Borrinaga on March 18,
2021. The legal move was characterized by Philippine Daily Inquirer
 columnist John Nery as "dangerous nonsense" and a means to
"weaponize the law against historical truth.
Group 1
• Aguila, Danico
• Alimorong, JL M.
• Alonso, JM
• Ang, Mark Rhen John
• Antone, John Michael
• Aquino, Gerald
• Briones, John Victor
• Carpio, Ronald
• Casimiro, Ron Joshua
• Catacutan, Jayvee
• Chiu, Mark