'First Mass' in
manuscript did he ever state or even hint that it
Limasawa:
Fact or
opinion?
That “First Mass” celebrated on Philippine
soil was neither in Agusan nor in Southern
Leyte!
Is Mass on Easter Sunday ever celebrated
without first observing Palm Sunday, a week
before?
I am establishing a chronology in order to
resolve an argument over geography!
Homonhon came before Limasawa. Let’s go.
We ended last week’s first part with the
National Historical Institute’s (NHI)
conclusion stating that “the first-ever Christian
mass on Philippine soil on March 31, 1521
was celebrated in the island of Limasawa.” It
is a conclusion the NHI reached after a
“rigorous evaluative analysis and appraisal of
primary sources” -- none other than “the most
complete and reliable account of the Magellan
expedition” the chronicles of Antonio
Pigafetta.
Without being disrespectful much less smart
alecky, I am afraid the National Historical
Institute panel may never have read Pigafetta
in its entirety or whatever they may have read,
they dismally misinterpreted! I have combed
through Pigafetta in its couple of English
translations. There is absolutely no doubt that
mass was celebrated in Limasawa on March
31, 1521, Easter Sunday because Pigafetta did
say so. But nowhere in the entire Pigafetta
was “the first ever!”
In fact, the National Historical Institute
repeated a much earlier Congressional error.
You see, in June 19, 1960, Republic Act 2733
lapsed into law, “without Executive approval.”
President Macapagal did not sign it. That
legislation declared Limasawa a National
Shrine because it was there that “the First
Mass in the Philippines was held.”
Here is the verbatim quote (English translation
from Blair & Robertson) of what Pigafetta
wrote: “Early on the morning of Sunday, the
last of March and Easterday, the captain
general sent the priest with some men to
prepare the place where mass was to be said.”
Indeed, it was the first mention of mass being
celebrated since arriving in the islands they
had just named “the archipelago of San
Lazaro.” Inescapably and irrefutably,
however, Pigafetta never claimed that that
Limasawa Easter Mass was the “first ever, ” as
we were taught in our elementary school
Philippine History.
As a matter of observation, a few noted
historians are now no longer referring to the
Limasawa mass as the “first.” Earlier, there
has been a shift -- referring to the Limasawa
event as the “first recorded mass.”
Unavoidably, the stark implication, without
officially admitting it, was that there was a
first “unrecorded mass.” Quite recently, the
500th Anniversary of that March 31 event (to
be celebrated in 2021) was referred to more
factually as simply the “Easter Sunday Mass”
at Limasawa. Claims of being the “first” seem
to be vanishing!
How the original error (opinion, not fact!)
came to be and who might have caused and
perpetuated it for so long, do not seem to be of
any import at all anymore. Having unveiled
and aired the error, correction by the
concerned authorities is simply in order. It
would, however, be an academic challenge to
pursue the subject as, say a masteral thesis, on
a historical “whodunnit!”
The voyage of Magellan, from San Lucar de
Barrameda to “the archipelago of San Lazaro”
spanned a period of one year, six months and a
couple of weeks. It would be preposterous to
conclude that no other masses were said,
before Limasawa, even claiming such to be
“the first,” simply because of its unmention or
perhaps because Pigafetta imply failed to
record a religious rite which after all, occurs
with regularity every Sunday? The uneventful
remains unworthy of recordation, right?
During the time span of Magellan’s voyage up
to their arrival in Zubu (Cebu), I have found
only five instances when Pigafetta recorded
such religious rites being observed. Truly
incredulous that no other masses were said
throughout the voyage simply because
Pigafetta did not mention them! With the
Magellan crew, by the way, were three priests.
While along the coast of Verzin (Brazil):
“mass was said twice on shore, during which
those people (natives) remained on their
knees.” In the Patagonian port of San Julian:
“April 1 (1520) Palm Sunday, Magallanes
summoned all his captains, officers and pilots
to go ashore to hear mass…..” The fourth
instance was when they were already in
Limasawa. The fifth was when they had
reached Zubu.
But Magellan anchored and stayed in Humunu
(Homonhon) for a full eight days, Sunday to
Sunday, departing on the 9th day, March 25
which was a Monday in 1521. After months of
floating over the Pacific seas in hopeful
desolation, having at last finally landed, and
on a Sunday, too! would not a Te Deum in the
very least have been called for? Pigafetta was
silent. He was also silent about their second
Sunday in Homonhon, which was in fact Palm
Sunday!
I am mindful and should you be. While in the
port of San Julian, Pigafetta recorded mass on
Palm Sunday (which fell on April 1, 1520 - a
year earlier), but he fails to mention mass on
Easter Sunday. Pigafetta mentioned Easter
Sunday mass in Limasawa but was silent
about Palm Sunday on their last full day in
Homonhon.
Is Easter Mass ever celebrated without
observing Palm Sunday? Or, is Palm Sunday
observed without being followed by mass on
Easter Sunday?
Here is the chronology. Again, lifted verbatim
from Pigafetta’s memoirs:
“At dawn on Saturday, March 16, 1521, (feast
of St. Lazarus, my insertion) we came upon a
highland at a distance…..an island named
Zamal (Samar)…..the following day (March
17, Sunday) the captain general desired to land
on another island (Humunu)
….uninhabited…..in order to be more secure
and to get water and have some rest. He had
two tents set up on shore for the sick.”
“On Monday, March 18, we saw a boat
coming towards us with nine men in it.” (This
marks our first human contact with
Europeans)…..”giving signs of joy because of
our arrival.” “At noon on Friday, March 22,
those men came as they had promised.”
“And we lay eight days in that place, where
the captain every day visited the sick men who
he had put ashore on the island to recover.”
The instances recorded by Pigafetta of masses
being said had two things in common. They
were all observed on shore; and with natives
being present.
It is quite evident that because of failure in
historiographic interpretation, Homonhon (a
barangay of the Municipality of Guiuan in
Eastern Samar) has been excluded and
neglected as the true venue of the celebration
of the very first Sunday mass in the
Philippines, whether it was March 17, 1521 or
on Palm Sunday, March 24, 1521.
Homonhon is in dire need of a champion that
will rectify its abandonment as the rightful,
indispensable element in the 500th anniversary
celebration of the seminal event that began to
define us to the world.
I believe that task belongs firstly and
collectively to the provincial government of
Eastern Samar and the Municipality of
Guiuan, alongside the Catholic Church
represented by the Diocese of Borongan,
under whose sacerdotal responsibility
Homonhon must occupy the greatest of
historical honors.
They sit on their heritage, they lose it. It would
be a travesty of history, if they fail to claim
their rightful place in Philippine History.
Limasawa braces
for 500th
anniversary of
PH's 1st Mass
LIMASAWA, Southern Leyte -- The
government is stepping up its preparation for
the 500th anniversary of the first Roman
Catholic Mass in the country in 2021 even
with the revival of controversies arising about
where the first mass was held.
Southern Leyte Governor Damian Mercado
said the province has been preparing the
island for the influx of pilgrims. Road network
has been upgraded, new port was also built in
this town’s Magallanes village, and
improvement at the First Mass Shrine
complex.
Mercado added that this improvement will
help seal their belief that the first mass was
indeed held in the island town and not in
Butuan.
“Of course, I will say that the mass happened
in Limasawa not because I am from Southern
Leyte but because records and evidences
presented by historians support this claim,”
Mercado said during the 498th First Mass
commemoration on Sunday.
University of the Philippines and Leyte-based
historian Rolando Borrinaga said he will
deliver his latest research with the National
Quincentennial Committee of the National
Historical Commission of the Philippines on
April 25-27, 2019 in Limasawa and Maasin
City.
Before this presentation, in 1996, it reaffirmed
the popular belief pushed by Republic Act
2733 signed in 1960 that the first Holy Mass
was celebrated in Limasawa Island on March
31, 1521.
“There were also two commissions that had
decided on this and both said that Limasawa
was the site of the First Eastern Mass,” said
Karina Rosa Tiopes, Department of Tourism
Eastern Visayas Regional Director.
“But as far as the promotion is concerned, this
had not affected the tourism much. For many
people, this is really where the first mass took
place and that is why they come to
Limasawa,” she added.
Nearly 50 years after the passage of Republic
Act 2733 declaring Limasawa as the place of
the first mass, last year, a group signed a
declaration urging the continuation of the
debate on the exact site of the first mass --
Limasawa in Southern Leyte and Masao in
Butuan.
“I hope that this controversy will be settled so
that the people of Limasawa and the people of
Butuan will finally have peace of mind and will
no longer be squabbling over this issue,”
Tiopes added.
The tourism department in support of the local
government unit and the provincial
government is drumbeating the activities for
the 500th year celebration.
Last year, the Regional Development Council,
the region’s highest policy-making body,
passed a resolution creating an ad hoc
coordinating group to ensure the smooth
implementation of the programs, projects and
activities needed for the 500th anniversary

The ad hoc coordinating group is headed by

the DOT, with members from Southern Leyte
provincial government, Department of Public
Works and Highways, Department of
Transportation, and the local government of
Limasawa, Southern Leyte.

In support of the celebration, the Council also

endorsed the installation of the First Mass’
Cross Shrine on Limasawa Island. It also
resolved to declare Limasawa as the “true”
and undisputed site of the historical first mass
in the Philippines.

Limasawa is identified as one of the

pilgrimage sites or pilgrimage destinations in
Eastern Visayas where tourists visiting the
island will experience religious activities.

Aside from being a pilgrimage site, the island

is also famous for its rich corals and limestone
cliff that is ideal for swimming, snorkeling and
diving.

The DOT has already trained 42 homeowners

who will be offering homestay for tourists who
will not be accommodated in four lodging
houses in the island, Tiopes said.

Limasawa Island, the smallest town in

Southern Leyte province, is touted to be the
site of the first Catholic mass in Asia,
officiated on Easter Sunday on March 31,
1521 by Father Pedro de Valderrama under
the fleet of Ferdinand Magellan. (PNA)