CHAPTER-3-LESSON-1-site-of-first-mass.pdf

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1. CHAPTER 3:
Controversies in
Philippine History

2. SITE OF THE
FIRST MASS:
LIMASAWA
OR
MASAO?

3. Why is it important for
Filipinos to know the
accurate site of the First
Mass?

4. Is geography important (e.g.,
maps, descriptions of
islands, navigation logs) in
determining historical
accuracy? Why?

5. Ferdinand Magellan (Fernando de Magallanes)

6. Antonio Pigafetta

7. Francesco Albo

8. SITE OF THE
FIRST MASS:
MAZAUA
OR
MASAO?

10. FIRST CROSS AND THE
FIRST MASS SHRINE IN
LIMASAWA LEYTE
MAGELLAN SHRINE IN
MAGALLANES, AGUSAN
DEL NORTE
MASAO BEACH, IN
BUTUAN CITY

11. THROWBACK
•March 25, they left HUMUNU
•March 28, they anchored near an UNKNOWN island where they
saw firethe night before
•March 29, the king of another island near the island where
Magellan were went to bring him food.
on the same day, Pigafetta and his other companion went to the
island of that king as requested by Magellan.
•March 30, Magellan came in his boat to fetch Pigafetta and his
men.
The brother of the king of that island went along with Pigafetta and
became Magellan’s guest.

12. THE MASS
➢Early on the morning of Sunday, 31
st
of
March and Eastern Day.
➢Magellan sent the priest and some men to
prepare the place where the mass was to
be said.
➢They landed with about 50 men, without
their body armor but carrying other arms.
They were dressed in their best clothes.
➢Beforetheyreachedtheshore,theyfired
theircanonsasasignofpeace.
➢Thetwokings(Datu)embracedMagellan.

13. THE MASS
➢During the mass they made their offerings.
➢The two kings(Datus) went to kiss the cross.
➢On their knees and worshipped theCross with their
clasped hands.
➢After the mass, Magellan’s men took communion.
➢Magellan arranged a fencing tournament for the two kings
present.
➢They planted the cross at the highest summit of the
mountain.

14. WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE FIRST MASS IN 1521
•It happened in Mazaua, beachside.
“It is twenty-five from the Acquada, and is called Mazaua”
“We went in marching order to the place consecrated, which was not far from the
shore.”
•They stayed SEVEN days in Mazaua
“We remained there seven days, after which we laid our course toward the
northwest…”
•Attended by two kings. Believed to be Raja Colambo and Raja Siaui
“We landed; the two kings embraced the captain-general, and placed him
between them”
•The cross was planted at the highest summit of the mountain
“It was necessary to set that cross on the summit of the highest mountain, so
that on seeing it every morning, they might adore it..”

15. WHAT WE DON’T KNOW
•The present day location
of Mazaua.
As there are two possible
places nearby, Masao ,
Butuan and Limasawa,
Leyte

16. LIMASAWA PERSPECTIVE
On June 19, 1960 Republic Act No. 2733, called the
LIMASAWA LAW, was enacted without Executive
approval.
The legislative fiat declared :
"The site in Magallanes, Limasawa Island in the
Philippines was held is hereby declared a National
Shrine to commemorate the birth ofChristianity in
the Philippines."

17. BASIS OF LIMASAWA PERSPECTIVE
The Journal of Pigaffeta The Logbook of Albo

18. LOCATION OF “MAZAUA”
From Pigafetta’s Account
•"It lies in a latitude of nine and two-thirds
degrees toward the Arctic Pole, and in a
longitude of one hundred and sixty-two
degrees from the line of demarcation. It is
twenty-five leagues from Humunu."
Let’s do Math!
1 league = 5.556 km
Therefore, 25 x 5.556 = 138.9 km
Humunu to Mazaua is 138.9 km

19. From Albo’s logbook
“Sailing southwards along the
coast of Seilani (Ceylon/
Leyte) they turned southwest
to a small island called
“Mazava”.
That island is also at latitude
of nine and 2/3’s degrees of
North”

20. COMPARISON
IT IS TWENTY-FIVE LEAGUES FROM HUMUNU
Let’s do Math!
1 league = 5.556 km
Therefore, 25 x 5.556 = 138.9 km
Humunu to Mazaua is 138.9 km

21. NINE AND 2/3’S DEGREES OF NORTH

22. THE PEOPLE IN “MAZAUA”
From Pigafetta’s account:
“Those people are heathens, and go naked and
painted. They wear a piece of cloth woven from a
tree about their privies….”
“They have holes pierced in their ears which are
filled with gold.”
“Those people are constantly chewing a fruit
which they call areca, which resembles a
pear…..”

23. From Albo’s logbook
“The people of that island of Mazava were very good. There
the Spaniards planted a cross upon a mountain-top, and from
there they shown three islands to the west and southwest,
where they were told there was much gold.”
“They showed us how the gold was gathered, which came
in small pieces like peas and lentils.”
THE PEOPLE IN “MAZAUA”

24. WHAT DID THEY DO DURINGTHOSE7DAYSIN“MAZAUA?”
•28 March (Thursday)
In the morning, they anchored near an island where they had seen a light the night before…..
•29 March (Friday)
“Next day, Holy Friday…” Magellan sent his interpreter ashore in a small boat to ask the king
if he could provide any provisions…
•30 March (Saturday)
Pigafetta took leave of their hosts and returned to the ships.
•31 March (Sunday)
The day of the Mass and the planting of the cross at the highest summit of the mountain.
Magellan said that he wished to go Zubu and to depart the following morning (Monday). He asked
for a pilot to which the kings replied they would be available “anytime” but later that evening the
king of Mazaua changed his mind and said that he would himself conduct Magellan to Cebu but
that he would have to bring the harvest in first. He asked Magellan to send him men to help with
the harvest.

25. WHAT DID THEY DO DURING THOSE 7 DAYS IN “MAZAUA?”
•1 April (Monday)
Magellan sent men shore to help with the harvest , but no
work was done that day because the two kings were
sleeping off their drinking bout of the night before.
“Our men did nothing on that day, but they worked the next two
days”
•2-3 April (Tuesday and Wednesday)
Work on the harvest during the “next two days”
•4 April (Thursday)
They leave Mazaua bound for Cebu
“We remained there seven days”

26. EVIDENCES FOR LIMASAWA
•Francisco Albo’s logbook
•He was a pilot in Magellan’s flagship
“Trinidad”
•One of the 18 survivors who
returned with Sebastion Elcano on
the “Victoria”

27. •From Homonhon, or which in this case
Pigafetta refers to Acquada when measuring
their distances, they went to the island of
Seilani which is actually the island of Leyte.
Then they coasted on the Eastern coast of the
island then turned southwest and came upon an
island called Mazaua. (latitude of 9 2/3 degrees
north, which is actually 9° 54’ N)

28. •Albo did not mention the site of the
mass but the three islands that can
be seen to the west and southwest
and fits the southern end of Limasawa
•This does not fit Butuan from which
no islands could be seen from the west
and southwest but only from the north

29. •The Two kings
•The king called himself the king of Mazaua
• The other was a relative and was the king of Butuan
•The “island where we were” referred to
Mazaua, therefore Mazaua could not have
been Butuan

31. BUTUAN PERSPECTIVE

32. NarrativeinLaborEvangélica
byFranciscoColín(1663):
“OnEasterDay,intheterritory
ofButuan,thefirstMasswas
celebratedbyMagellan’smen,
andacrossplantedona
mountain…”

33. FranciscoCombés,S.J.(1667)mentionedinhis
book,HistoriadeMindanaoyJoló,thatthe
sequenceofMagellan’stravelintheislandsof
Visayasisasfollows:
Homonhon–Dimasaua-ButuanEasterfeast
atButuan.
“AfterleavingHomonhon,Magellanwenttotheisle
calledDimasaua,wherehetarried,andthenpassedto
Butuan,wheretheEasterfeastwaskeptwiththe
celebrationoftheholysacrifice.”

34. Basis of Claims
•ColínneverhadaccesstoPigafetta’soriginal
journal.BaseditonItaliancompilationsandSpanish
summaries(likeRamusio’sNavigationietViaggiand
othersecondarycollections).Someofthesehad
corruptionsofplace-names.
•Oral/LocalTraditionsofButuan.

35. Basis of Claims
•Combésopenlyusedsecondarycompilations(e.g.,
Ramusio,Herrera’sHistoriaGeneraldelosHechosde
losCastellanos,andotherprintedchroniclesof
Magellan’svoyage).LikeColín,thesesourceshad
errorsinplace-namesandsequencing.

36. Local executives and Church officials as well as
historians in Butuan City said they have new
scientific evidence to substantiate the re- filing of a
petition before NHI asserting that BUTUAN CITY –
particularly Mazzaua Island, now Brgy.
Pinamungculan- was the official site of the first Mass
on Easter Sunday in 1521.

37. Dr.PotencianoR.Malvarpresentsvarious
artifactsfoundincludingacrosscarvingin
stonesimilartootherPortuguesecrosses
andotherartifactsthatmaysuggestthiscould
beagoodcandidateforthemountainwhere
thecrosswaserectedtoremindpeopleto
pray.

38. BUTUAN CITY CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL FOUNDATION INC.
(BCHFI)
They contested the declaration of Limasawa Leyte as the place
where the first mass took place.
They formed the Gancayco Commission headed by Supreme
Court Associate Justice Emilio Gancayco in 1994.
OnDec.12,2018,theResilMojaresPaneloftheNational
QuincentennilanCommitteethatwilllookatthenewdatabeing
presentedtorecognizeoldButuan(Magallanestown)asthesite
oftheEasterSundayMassof1521wasconvenedinCebu.

39. Gabriel B. Atega and Potenciano Malvar gave
presentations in favor of the Butuan claim.
Atega’s main point is that if you take the
measuremnets of the French manuscript of
Pigafetta being kept at the Yale-Beinecke Collection,
which was translated by Raleigh Ashlin Skelton,
most of his locations can be measured accurately
based on modern geography.

40. Pigafettas 9 degree and 2/3’s should be 9 degree and 40’ north,
and would fall in Malimono, Surigao in Mindanao and not
anywhere in Leyte.
Atega claim that Mazzawa is actually Pigafetta’s name for
the island of Mindanao in general where all three events
described were located.
Malvar presents various artifacts found including a cross
carving in stone similar to other Portuguese crosses and
other artifacts that may suggest this could be a good
candidate for the mountain where the cross was erected to
remind people to pray.

41. The primary account of Francisco Albo said that where they erected
the cross, they saw three islands in the direction west southwest.
From the area of Magallanes and Mina-asog, indeed one doesn’t
see the three islands but only one island, that of Camiguin and
three peaks of Camiguin are visible.
Ocular inspection of Limasawa hill we don’t see three
islands from there.
Malvar and Atega insist that Mazaua by Pigafetta’s
description was a trade center, land of gold, with a lot of
Balanghais. There is no archeological proof that Limasawa
was any of these.

42. ANSWER THIS!
½ sheet of paper Do it by
PAIR
Which of the claims is more
convincing to you? And why?

43. WHY BUTUAN?
•Second hand information
•Magellan knew the king of
Butuan at Limasawa
•They visit Mindanao after
Magellan’s death