The first recorded Christian mass was held on Easter Sunday, March 31, 1521 at a little island-port named Mazaua. Two identical accounts report this event, by eyewitness Antonio Pigafetta (1523) and Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas (1601). "Masawa" is a word found only in Butuanon and its scion, Tausog, out of 181 Philippine languages. It means brilliant light and crystal clear.

In the Philippines this event is officially viewed from the confused and confusing three paragraph mis-story of Fr. Francisco Combes, S.J. (1667) based on conflicting irreconcilable stories of Gian Battista Ramusio (1563) and of Herrera. Ramusio wrote it was Butuan, Herrera correctly said Mazaua. Combes followed Ramusio rejecting Herrera's Mazaua. In Combes's version he introduces an isle named Limasawa, but not as the port of Ferdinand Magellan on Easter week. Here are Combes' paragraphs as translated by the foremost writer on "the Limasawa first mass", Fr. Miguel Bernad:

"The first time that the royal standards of the Faith were seen to fly in this island [of Mindanao] was when the Archipelago was first discovered by the Admiral Alonso de Magallanes. He followed a new and difficult route [across the Pacific], entering by the Strait of Siargao, formed by that island and that of Leyte, and landing at the island of Limasaua which is at the entrance of that Strait. Amazed by the novelty and strangeness of the [Spanish] nation and the ships, the barbarians of that island welcomed them and gave them good refreshments.

"While at Limasaua, enjoying rest and good treatment, they heard of the River of Butuan, whose chieftain was more powerful. His reputation attracted our men thither to see for themselves or be disillusioned, their curiosity sharpened by the fact that the place was nearby. The barbarian [chief] lived up to our men's expectations, providing them with the food they needed...Magellan contented himself with having them do reverence to the cross which is erected upon a hillock as a sign to future generations of their alliance...The solemnity with which the cross was erected and the deep piety shown by the Spaniards, and by the natives following the example of the Spaniards, engendered great respect for the cross.

"Not finding in Butuan the facilities required by the ships, they returned to Limasaua to seek further advice in planning their future route. The Prince of Limasaua told them of the three most powerful nations among the Pintados [Visayans], namely those of Caraga, Samar, and Zebu. The nearness of Zebu, the facilities of its port, and the more developed social structure (being more monarchical) aroused everyone's desire to go thither. Thus, guided by the chief of Limasaua, passing between Bool and Leyte and close to the Camotes Islands, they entered the harbor of Cebu by the Mandawe entrance on the 7th of April 1521, having departed from Limasaua on the first day of that month."

Nowhere is a mass mentioned! Nowhere is there reference to an anchorage on Holy Week at Limasawa. It mentions Butuan as site of the planting of a cross which in the true story by Pigafetta and Herrera happened at Mazaua in the afternoon following the Easter mass. Everything in the story is a mess including the name of Magellan who becomes an "Alonso" instead of Fernando.

The idea Limasawa=Mazaua was a wild guess by Carlo Amoretti (1800), discoverer of the true Pigafetta manuscript, who had not read Combes' story. Amoretti published his transcription and in a footnote he wrote Mazaua may be Limasawa. In fact the word Limasawa is an invention that was meant to say, "This is not Mazaua of Herrera." The idea the "first mass" was at Limasawa was first suggested by Manuel Walls y Merino (1899), Spanish translator of Amoretti's Italian Pigafetta's account, who also had not read Combes. Walls was what Philippine writers read.

Thereafter, every Philippine writer on the first mass repeated Wall's invalid dictum. While Western navigation historians and Magellan scolars simply adopted Amoretti without going into  Combes' text. Thenceforth every Philippine debate was seen from the classic fallacious question, "Where is the site of the first mass, Limasawa or Butuan?" In 2006 I questioned this proposition pointing out the isle where the mass was held was not Butuan or Limasawa, but Mazaua. The National Historical Institute at first accepted this and all arguments and evidences. Then it changed its mind and reverted the debate to a choice between Butuan or Limasawa--without explanation and certainly no justification. (See Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:First_Mass_in_the_Philippines#Fr._Francisco_Comb.C3.A9s_and_his_Limasaua)

In 2008, a new review was made by NHI under its new Chair, Ambeth Ocampo. All the painstaking argument for Mazaua was made known to him. All to no avail. In 2009 Ocampo and the rest of the now renamed National Historical Commission affirmed Limasawa not Butuan. It again failed to mention Mazaua. This altered the nature of the Limasawa fairy tale from falsehood to a hoax

This is urgent. Hundreds of millions of pesos are being earmarked and already being spent by government, e.g. Department of Tourism, the local government of Southern Leyte, etc., in preparation for the 500th anniversary of the "first mass" in 2021. We're not even putting in what the Catholic Church will spend. This is money from our poor people. Let it not be squandered honoring a ghost event at Limasawa.

The National Historical Commission must stop peddling the Limasawa first mass hoax!

Internationally, it's important to let the billions of Catholics and Christians and the scholarly world the truth of Mazaua, the true site of the first Catholic mass in the Philippines. It's the truth that shall set us free.

(For an exhaustive discussion of this hoax, see  https://picasaweb.google.com/103135314023445858830/AmbethOcampoSLimasawaHoaxOhWhatATangledWebWeWeaveWhenFirstWePractiseToDeceive#5455488963321830034)