The Philippine justice system has been brought into the picture with complaints now before the Ombudsman against the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) chairman for graft and corruption and before the Butuan City prosecutor against academicians from seven universities for libel. They question the reasoning and accuracy of the studies leading to the decision favoring Limasawa.Ī MATTER OF PLACE AND TIME – Magellan’s ship Victoria (from a woodcut in Henry Stevens’ Johann Stoner, London 1888, reproduced in Blair & Robertson’s The Philippine Islands) This is hotly disputed by those who insist that Mazaua is in Butuan and is the true site of the First Mass. The official declaration is that Mazaua is the island across from the southern tip of Leyte named Limasawa. 32 of Blair and Robertson’s The Philippine Islands. His translation of Pigafetta’s account of the First Mass is in Vol. He went the extra mile and translated from scratch what is considered the most complete Pigafetta manuscript in Milan’s Biblioteca Ambrosiana. American librarian James Robertson was thorough. These were rare books by the 19th century and even Jose Rizal seemed to have been unaware of their existence. Pigafetta organized and expanded his notes into a more detailed manuscript written possibly in the Venetian dialect that was published in a French translation that was in turn later published in Italian translation. Historical thinking began to shift in the early 1900s with the availability of more primary sources, notably accounts of Antonio Pigafetta, Francisco Albo, Gines de Mafra, and other expedition members, as well as records of interviews of Magellan expedition survivors. With changes in place names and in the course of the Agusan River, the marker’s location is now in the town of Magallanes, across the river from Butuan City. In 1872, a marker was raised in Agusan, at the place where the First Mass was then believed to have been held. The 1734 Murillo-Velarde map, for example, indicates the first land sighting as Surigao from where the expedition headed north to Dinagat and Limasaua, then south to Butuan, back north to Limasaua, from where they sailed along the west coast of Leyte, the Camotes Islands, and down to Sugbo and Mactan. In the afternoon, a cross was carried and placed at the summit of the highest nearby mountain.Īntonio Pigafetta, chronicler of the Magellan expedition, identified the place as “Mazaua.”Ī MATTER OF PLACE AND TIME – Detail from the Murillo-Velarde Map (1734), reproduction by Domingo AbellaĮarly accounts-mainly by friars relying on available writings and on tradition-reported the First Mass as being held in Butuan, Agusan del Norte, specifically on an island called Masao. After Mass, the crowd was treated to a fencing exhibition. It was pageantry designed to impress the natives who were described as also venerating the Cross with the caveat that Enrique de Malacca, the translator, probably could not explain how bread and wine were transformed to flesh and blood. At the elevation, artillery of the three ships simultaneously fired. Kulambo, Siaui, and their followers observed Mass alongside the Spanish.

The chiefs were sprinkled with musk (holy?) water and Mass began, said by chaplain Fr. In solemn procession led by Magellan flanked by the two chiefs, all proceeded to the appointed site. The two were brothers, the former being chief of Butuan and Calaghan.

Six muskets fired as they stepped ashore and were greeted by Chiefs Kulambo and Siaui. Some 50 men including Magellan followed, dressed in their Sunday best. Early on Easter Sunday morning, March 31, 1521, Magellan sent some men ashore to prepare a suitable place.

Antonio pigafetta manuscript