The 1st Catholic

Mass in the
Philippines
Reporters: Nelmarie Rivera and Rosalie Alitao
Subject: Readings in the Philippine History
Teacher: Sir Jonathan Galang
 Itmust be noted that there are only two primary sources that historians
refer to in identifying the site of the first mass. One is the log kept by
Francisco Albo, a pilot of one of Magellan’s ship , Trinidad. He was one
of the 18 survivors who returned with Sebastian El canoon the ship
Victoria after they circumnavigated the world. The other, and the more
complete, was the account by Antonio Pigafetta, Primo viaggio intorno al
mondo(First Voyage Around the World). Pigafetta, like Albo, was a
member of Magellan Expedition and an eyewitness of the Events,
particularly, of the first mass
The Account of Antonio Pigafetta: Route of
Magellan's Expedition in the Island of St. Lazarus
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. 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. Pigafetta narrated on his account the events
happened from March 16, 1521 when they first saw the Island of the
Philippine group up to April 7, 1521 when the expedition landed on Cebu
 Primary source: Pigafetta’s Testimony on the route
of Magellan’s Expedition
1. Saturday, 16 March 1521
Magellan’s expedition sighted a “highland” named “ Zamal which was some 300 leagues
westward of Ladrones(now the Marianas) Island.
2.  Sunday, March 17
They landed on “another island which was uninhabited” . There they set up two tents for
the sick members of the crew and and had a sow killed for them. The name of the
Island was “Humunu” (Homonhon). Located at 10 degrees North Latitude.
3. Sunday, March 17
Magellan named the entire archipelago the “Islands of Saint Lazarus,” It was Sunday in
the Lenten season when the Gospel assigned for the Mass and the Liturgical Office was
the eleventh chapter of St. John. Which tells of the raising of Lazarus from the dead
4. Monday, March 18
In the afternoon, They saw a boat coming towards them with the nine men
in it. An exchange of gifts was effected . Magellan asked for food supplies,
and the men went away, promising to bring rice and other supplies in “four
days.”
6. Friday, March 22
 At noon the native returned, they were in two boats and they brought food
supplies.
7. Magellan’s expedition stayed at eight days at
Homonhon: from Sunday, March 17, to the Monday of the following week,
March 25
8. Monday, March 25
In the afternoon the expedition weighed anchor and left the Island
of Homonhon. In ecclesiastical calendar, this day was the feast-day of the
Incarnation. Also called the feast of the Annunciation and therefore
“Our Lady’s Day.” An accident happened to Pigafetta: He fell into the
water but was rescued. He attributed his narrow escape from the death has
grace obtained through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary on her
feast-day.
9. They left Homonhon sailing westward towards Leyte, then followed Leyte
coast southward, passing between the Island of Hibuson on their port side
and Hiunangan Bay on their south board continued southward, then turning
 westward to “Mazaua ”
PRIMARY SOURCE:PIGAFETTA AND
THE SEVEN DAYS IN MAZAUA
1.Thursday, March 28
In the morning they anchored near an Island where they had seen a light
the night before a small boat (boloto) came with eight natives, to whom
Magellan threw some trinkets as presents. The natives paddled away, but
two hours later two larger boats (balanghai) came, in one of which the
native king sat under an awning of mats. At Magellan’s invitation some
of the natives went up the Spanish ship, but the native king remained
seated in his boat. In the afternoon, the Spanish ships weighed anchor and
came closer to shore, anchoring near the native king’s village this
Thursday was an holy week ,Holy Thursday
2. Friday, March 29
Magellan sent his slave interpreter ashore in a small boat to ask the king
if he could provide the expedition with food supplies, and to say that they had
come as friends and not as enemies. In reply the king himself came in a boat
with six or eight men and went up Magellan’s ship and the two men
embraced. And there exchange of gifts was made. The native king and his
companions returned ashore, bringing with them two members of Magellan’s
expedition as guests for the night. One of the two was Pigafetta.
3. Saturday, March 30
Pigafetta and his companion had spent the previous evening feasting and
drinking with the native king and his son. Pigafetta deplored the fact
that, although it was Good Friday, they had to eat meat. At Saturday
Pigafetta and his companion took leave of their hosts and returned to the
ships
4. Sunday, March 31
“Early in the morning, the last of March and Easter day,” Magellan sent the priest
ashore with some men to prepare for the Mass. for the Mass. Later in the morning
Magellan landed with some fifty men and Mass was celebrated, after which a
cross was venerated. Magellan and the Spaniards returned to the ship for the
noon-day meal, but in the afternoon, they returned ashore to plant the cross
on the summit of the highest hill. In attendance both at the mass and the
planting of the cross the king of Mazaua and the king of Butuan
5. Sunday, March 31
On that same afternoon, while on the summit of the highest hill, Magellan
asked the two kings which ports he should go to in order to obtain more
abundant supplies of food than were available in that Island. They replied
that there were three ports to choose from: Ceylon. Zubu, and Calagan. Zubu
was the port with the most trade. Magellan said that he wished to go to Zubu
and to depart the following morning.
6. Monday, April 1
Magellan sent men ashore to help with the harvest, but no work was done
that day because the two kings were sleeping off their drinking.
“The captain general sent the men; but the kings had drunk and eaten so
much on the previous day that they either drunkenness or were
uncomfortable with their health, slept the whole day, so that the knots did not
secrete anything; but in the following two days they worked, and there he did
the work”.
8. Thursday, April 4
They leave the Mazaua, Bound for Cebu
 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's chronicler, Antonio
Pigafetta, who recorded 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”
First Mass in the Philippines
March 31, 1521
- an Easter Sunday, Magellan ordered a Mass to be
celebrated
- officiated by Father Pedro Valderrama, the Andalusian
chaplain of the fleet, the only priest then.
- the First Holy Mass marked the birth of  Roman
Catholicism in the Philippines.
Proclamation of the national shrine
On June 19, 1960, Republic Act No. 2733, called 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.
 1996 Celebration
- the first ever Christian mass in the country on March 31,1521 was
celebrated in the Island of Limasawa, south of Leyte and not in Butuan
City so declared the National historical Institute.
Sources:
• https://web.facebook.com/pg/NewWorldHistory777Philippines/photos/?ta
b=album&album_id=1211685035529543
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Mass_in_the_Philippines#First_Mass
• https://www.slideshare.net/FayeCastro2/case-study-1-163036166
• https://www.academia.edu/38165265/FIRST_MASS_joan
• https://web.facebook.com/NewWorldHistory777Philippines/photos/a.1211
685035529543/1213227418708638/?type=3&theater
Thank you
and
God bless!