The First Mass in the Philippines:
LIMASAWA celebrated which was officiated
 Limasawa, officially the
Municipality of Limasawa, is a
6th class municipality in the
province of Southern Leyte,
Philippines.
 According to the 2015 census, it
has a population of 6,061 people.
 It is the smallest municipality in
the province, in both area and
population.
 Carlos V. Francisco created an
illustration(painting) of the first
mass in the Philippines
The first Catholic Mass was:
 Held on March 31, 1521 (Easter
Sunday)
 Said by Father Pedro de
Valderrama
 According to Antonio Pigafetta's
journals, this was held along the
shores of “Mazaua”
 Today, this site is widely believed
by many to be Limasawa at the
tip of Southern Leyte, though this
is contested by some who assert
that the first mass was instead
held at Masao, Butuan.
The story behind the first mass:
 Magellan ordered a Mass to be
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.
NOTE:
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’s chronicler, Antonio
Pigafetta, who recorder 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.”
Issues:
1. Was it really the first mass ever
held in the Philippines?
 National Historical Institute
stated that it was the first mass
held in the Philippines after
analyzing Pigafetta's manuscript
 On Pigafetta's manuscript, this
event was the first ever
mentioned mass but it was not
claimed to be the FIRST MASS
HELD IN THE PHILIPPINES
2. Did the first mass in the
Philippines really occurred at
Limasawa?
 For three centuries, it was the
prevailing belief that Pigafetta's
Mazaua was a place called
Masao near Butuan City in
Northern Mindanao. The Butuan
belief persisted from the 17th to
the 19th century.
 Limasawa was identified as the
most likely venue in 1894 with
the publication of a manuscript of
Pigafetta's account of Magellan's
voyage--the Ambrosian codex in
Milan--in its Italian text.
The commission concluded that the
First Mass was held in Limasawa
after it found out that:
 The most complete and reliable
account of the Magellan
expedition into Philippine shores
in 1521 is that of Antonio
Pigafetta which is deemed as the
only credible primary source of
reports on the celebration of the
first Christian Mass on Philippine
soil.
 James Robertson's English
translation of the original Italian
manuscript of Pigaffeta's account
is most reliable for being
''faithful'' to the original text as
duly certified by the University of
the Philippines' Department of
European Language.
 Pigafetta's Mazaua, the site of
the first Christian Mass held on
Philippine soil, is an island lying
off the southwestern tip of Leyte
while Masao in Butuan is not an
island but a barangay of Butuan
City located in a delta of the
Agusan River along the coast of
Northern Mindanao. The position
of Mazaua, as plotted by
Pigafetta, matched that of
Limasawa.
 The measurement of distances
between Homonhon and
Limasawa between Limasawa
and Cebu, as computed by the
pro-Limasawa group, matches or
approximates the delineations
made by Pigafetta of the
distances between Homonhon
and Mazaua and between
Mazaua and Cebu.