a n

u tu w a
B a sa
Li m
First Mass in the
Philippines
In Limasawa or Butuan?
Where it all started?

- Believed to be held on Easter

Sunday, the 31st of March 1521
on an island called “Mazaua”.
Officiated by the Fleet’s captain
Fr. Pedro de Valderrama.

- Controversy with Pigafetta calling

it “Mazaua”. Which two schools
argue of him mispronouncing
“Limasawa” or “Masao”.
The Butuan Tradition
The 17th Century
- Fully accepted Butuan as the place to where the First Mass
happened.
- Two historians accepted it without question: Father Francois
Colin S.J. and Father Francisco Combes S.J.
- Both agree that it was from Limasawa and with the help of
Limasawa’s chieftain that the Magellan expedition went to
Cebu and also agrees that Magellan arrives in Cebu on the 7th
of April 1521, the Octave of Easter which was one week after
the first Mass which – in tradition – was supposed to have
celebrated the first Mass.
- Both were strong influence over writers at their time.
The 18th Century
- A major historical error was made by Juan de la Concepcion in
his work “Augustinian which has mixed up several things:
- Thought the island called “Las Velas” and the Marianas Islands and
the Archipelago of San Lazaro were all one.
- He misconstrued Magellan’s route. Depicting him as sighting the
southeastern tip of Mindanao and sailing northwards along Pacific
coast of this island, and then entering by the Siargao Strait into
Limasawa.
- Later on, writers repeated the same mistake that the “Archipelago of
San Lazaro” was another name for the Marianas Islands.
The 19th Century
- The historical error is still being used and
repeated.
- The Butuan tradition was take for granted.
- On 1872, a monument was built with an
inscription which was said to “might be”
translated to : “To the Immortal Magellan: the
People of Butuan with their Parish Preist and
Spaniards resident therein, to commemorate his
arrival and the celebration of the First Mass on
this site on the 8th of April 1521. Erected in 1872,
under the District Governor Jose Ma. Carvallo.”
II. The Shift in Opinion
Shift from Butuan to Limasawa
- The Butuan tradition was dislodges and taken for granted by
this century’s historians.
- Two Americans were blamed for the shift: Emma Blair and
James Alexander Robertson; helped the shift which was then
made by a Spanish Jesuit scholar, Father Pablo Pastells S.J.
- The shift was due to a rediscovery and a more attentive study
of two primary sources on the subject: Pigafetta’s account and
Albo’s log.
III. The Evidence for
Limasawa
Evidences in favor of Limasawa
1. The evidence of Albo’s Log-Book
2. The evidence of Pigafetta
a. Pigafetta’s testimony regarding the route
b. The evidence of Pigafetta’s map
c. The two native kings
d. The seven days at “Mazaua”
e. An argument from omission.
3. Summary of the evidence of albo and Pigafetta.
4. Confirmatory evidence from the Legazpi expedition.
Who is Francisco Albo?
- Joined Magellan’s expedition as a
pilot in his flagship “Trinidad”.
- Was one of the eighteen survivors
who returned with Sebastian Elcano
on the “Victoria”.
- Kept his own diary – merely only a
log-book.
1. The Evidence of Albo’s Log-Book
1. On the 16th of March (1521) as they sailed in a westerly course from the Ladores, they
saw land towers the northwest; but owning to many shallow places they did not
approach it. They found later that its name was Yunagan.
2. They went instead the same day southwards to another small island named Suluan,
and there they approached. There they saw some canoes but these fled at the
Spaniards’ approach. This island was at 9 and two-thirds degrees North latitude.
3. Departing from those two islands, they sailed westward to an uninhabited island of
“Gada” where they took in a supply of wood and water. The sea around that island was
free from shallows.
4. From that island they sailed westwards towards a large island named Seilani which
was inhabited and was known to have gold.
5. Sailing southward along the coast of the large island of Seilani, they urned southwest
to a small island called “Mazava”. That island is also at a latitude of 9 and two-thirds
degrees North.
1. The Evidence of Albo’s Log-Book
6. The people of that island of Mazava were very good. There the Spaniards planted a
cross upon a mountain-top, and from there they were shown three islands to the west
and southwest, where they were told there was much gold.
7. From Mazava they sailed northwards again towards Seilani. They followed the coast of
Seliani in a northwesterly direction, ascending up to degrees of latitude where they
saw three small islands.
8. From there they sailed westwards some ten leagues, and there they saw three islets,
where they dropped anchor for the night . In the morning they sailed southwest some 12
leagues, down to a latitude of 10 and one-third degree. There they entered a channel
between two islands, one of which was called “Matan” and the other “Subu”.
9. They sailed down that channel and then turned westward and anchored at the town of
Subu where they stayed many days and obtained provisions and entered into a peace-
pact with the local king.
10. The town of Subu was on an east-west direction with the islands of Suluan and Mazava.
But between Mazava and Subu, there were so many shallows that the boat could
not go westward directly but had to go in a round-about way.
Who is Pigafetta?
- Venetian scholar and explorer
- Joined the expedition to the spice
Islands with Magellan.
- Served as Magellan’s assistant and
made an accurate journal.
- Was one of the only 18 men who
survived and returned to Spain.
2. The Evidence from Pigafetta
a. Pigafetta’s Testimony Regarding the Route
1. Saturday, 16 March 1521. – Magellan’s Expedition sighted a “high land” named
“Zama” which was some 300 leagues westward of the Ladrones Islands.
2. Sunday, March 15, - Landed on an uninhabited island and which lay “to the
right” of Zamal island. They set up two tents for the sick members of the crew
and had a sow killed for them. The named island was “Humunu”. This island
was located at 10 degrees North latitude.
3. On the same day, Magellan named the entire archipelago the “Islands of Saint
Lazarus”
4. Monday, 18 March. – They saw boats towards them with nine men in it. A
exchange of gifts was effected. Magellan asked for food, and the men went
away, promising to bring rice and other supplies in “four days”
5. They saw two springs and saw indications that there was gold and renamed the
island as “Watering Place of Good Omen”
6. Friday, 22 March. – The natives return, there were two boats and food supplies.
7. Magellan’s expedition stayed eight days at Homonhon: fromSunday, 17 March, to
Monday of the following week, 25 March.
8. Monday, 25 March. – It was feat-day of the Incarnation, also called the feast of
the Annunciation and therefore “Our Lady’s Day”. An accident happened,
Pigafetta fell into the water but was rescued.
9. Left towatd the west south west, between four islands: namely, Cenalo,
Hiunanghan, Ibusson and Alberien”.
10, Thursday, 28 March. – Holy Thursday, anchored off that island “lies in a latitude
of nine and two-thirds towards tha arctic pole and in a longitude of one
hundred and sixty-two degrees from the line of democracy. It is twenty-five
leagues from the Acquada, and is called Muzaua
11. They remained for seven days on Muzaua Island.
12. Thursday. 4 April, - They left Muzaua, bound for Cebu. They were guided
thither by the king of Muzaua who sailed in his own boat. Their route
tool past five islands: namely: “Ceylon, Bohol, Canighan, Baibai, and
Gatighan”.
13. Sailed westward to the three islands of the Camotes Group, namely,
Poro, Pasihan and Ponson.
14. From the Camotes Islands they sailed southwestward towards “Zubu”
15. Sunday, 7 April, - Entered the harbor of “Zubu”. Took them three days to
negotiate the journey from Mazaua northwards to the Camotes Islands
and then southwards to Cebu.
c. The evidence of Pigafetta’s map
b. The evidence of Pigafetta’s Maps
1. Mazaua is a small island which lies off the southwestern tip of the
larger island of Celion, and is to the east of the island of Bohol. It
lies near the passage between bohol and the western coast of
Ceilon.
2. The island of Mazaua is Pigafetta’s map, therefore lies in a position
roughly equivalent to the actual position of the island of Limasawa.
3. In no way can Mazaua be identified with Butuan, which is situated
in another much larger island.
c. The Two Kings
a. One was the king of Mazaua – who later guided the Magellan
expedition to Cebu.

b. The other was a relative, namely the king or Rajah of Butuan.

d. Seven Days at Mazaua
e. An Argument From Omission

“Butuan is a riverine settlement. It is situated on the Agusan River. The

beach called Masao is in the delta of the river. If the Magellan
expedition were at that delta, and if the Mass were celebrated there,
why is there no mention of the river?

“We must therefore take him literally: Mazaua was an island

surrounded by sea, not a river delta.”
3. Summary of the Evidence of Albo and
Pigafetta
a. Magellan’s expedition entered Philippine waters south of the island of Samar and dropped
anchor at Homonhon where they stayed a week. Then sailed westward towards Leyte and
then southwards parallel to the eastern coast of that island and that of the adjoining
island of Panaon. Rounding the southern tip of the latter, they anchored off the eastern
shore of a small island called Mazaua. There they stayed a week, during which Easter
Sunday they celebrated Mass and planted the cross on the summit of the highest hill.
b. The island of Mazaua lies a latitude of nine and two-thirds degrees North. It’s position and
its latitude corresponds to the island of Limasawa, whose southern tip lies at 9 degrees
and 54 minutes North.
c. From Mazaua the expedition sailed northwestward through the Canigao channel between
Bohol and Leyte, then northwards parallel to the eastern coast of this latter island, then
they sailed westward to the Camotes Group and from there southwestwards to Cebu
d. At no point in that itinerary did the Magellan expedition go to Butuan or any other point
on the Mindanao coast. The surviviors of the expedition did go to Mindanao later, but
after Magellan’s death.
4. The Legazpi Expedition
- Sailed forty-four years later to the Philippines
after Magellan.

- Understood the geographical error, to where

“Mazaua was an island near Leyte and Panaon;
Butuan was on the island of Mindanao. The
two were entirely different places and in no
wide identical”.
IV. The Geography of “Mazaua”
What will happen then the Butuan
Tradition?
 a n
u tu w a
B a sa
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Homonhon?