First Mass in the Philippines: Where did it really happen?

         The exact location of the first mass has been disputed for decades, primarily between two locations: Limasawa, and Masao, Butuan. 

           In the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, the spot of the first mass was believed to be Masao, Butuan, with even a marker commemorating the event installed there in 1872. The claim was founded on two works: the Labor evangelica of Francisco Colin, S.J., pubslihed in Madrid in 1663; and the Historia de Mindanao y Jolo by Francisco Combes, S.J., also published in Madrid in 1667. While Combes did not mention the first mass at all in his account, Colin claims that it was held in Masao; Combes only notes that the planting of the cross , which was done at the same time as the Mass, was done in Masao. 

         Later historians until the nineteenth century, such as Fray Joaquin Martinez de Zuniga to John Foreman and Wenceslao Retana, would base their works on these accounts and further strengthen the Masao claim.

         It was only with the publication of Antonio Pigafetta's account of the expedition in the Ambrosian Codex in 1894 that opinions started to favor the Limasawa claim. Citing evidence such as the maps made by Pigafetta, the geographical description of the island, and the Albo logbook, later historians such as Trindad Pardo de Tavera; Pablo Pastells, S.J.; and Emma Blair and James Robertson came to support the Limasawa claim.

         However, those of the pro-Butuan camp would continue to dispute the Limasawa claim. Independent scholar Vicente C. De Jesus said that these historians do not consider the eyewitness account of Gines de Mafra, one of the voyagers, which bolsters the Butuan claim. He would also claim that some parts of the Ambrosiana Codex, on which the Limasawa claim was founded, was largely mistranslated.

         Historian Gregorio Zaide, who originally supported the Limasawa claim, also claimed that  

“It is high time for contemporary historians and the Philippine government to correct their mistake and accept that the first Christian mass was celebrated in Masao, Butuan, Agusan del Norte and not in Limasawa, Leyte, on Easter Sunday, March 31, 1521.” 

Buod Promontory in Libertad. The place believed to be where the cross of the first mass was planted.

           In the preface of his later works. Other historians, like then National Historical Institute Chairman Esteban A. de Ocampo and Far Eastern University Professor Celedonio O. Resurrecion also acknolwedged the mistake.

            This led the NHI to convene a symposium on the issue at the National Library in June 1997. However, the NHI ruled in favor of the Limasawa claim one year later.

           Until today, Butuan still separately commemorates the anniversary of the first mass. 

First Mass in the Philippines, Accessed on September 08, 2010 at http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=First_Mass_in_the_Philippines.