Readings in Philippine History - Lesson 3

April 01, 1521

When did the first mass in the Philippines occur in the Visayas region?

Mazaua

The location of the first mass in the Philippines.

Republic Act No. 2733

Through this law, the Philippine government recognizes and declares Barangay Magallanes, Limasawa, Southern Leyte as the site of the first mass.

Barangay Magallanes, Limasawa, Southern Leyte

The official location of the first mass in the Philippines, under Republic Act No. 2733.

Dr. Sonia M. Zaide

An author and historian that presented evidences that the site of the first mass was not in Limasawa but in Masao, Butuan, Agusan del Norte.

Maximillian Transylvanus

He wrote the book “De Moluccis…” in 1523, where the site of the first mass was mentioned as he interviewed the survivors of the Magellan expedition. The survivors mentioned that they landed in “Messana” where the first mass was officiated.

De Moluccis…

Book written by Maximillian Transylvanus in 1523, about the first mass in the Philippines according to the survivors of the Magellan expedition.

Carlo Amoretti (1800)

An Italian writer from Ambrosiana Library that said that Mazaua where Magellan landed before and the Limasawa mentioned by Fr. Francisco Combes are the same.

Limasawa

The area mentioned by Fr. Francisco Colin and Fr. Francisco Combes as the site of the first mass in the Philippines, where it is thought and Mazaua to be the same.

Gines de Mafra

A mariner that reached Mazaua twice: in 1521 and 1543. His accounts were corroborated by William Henry Scott, Vicente de Jesus and the National Historical Commission (NHI) as the basis of Limasawa being the site of the first mass of the Philippines.

Gian Battista Ramusio (1536)

He wrote a chronicle about the voyage of Magellan where he insisted that Butuan as the site of the first mass.

Syllables of Limasawa vs. Masao for Mazaua, the conflicting distances between Homonhon, Limasawa, and Cebu, the relics of balanghais that were present in Butuan but not in Limasawa, the abundance of gold in Mazaua that the Agusan Valley does have, but Limasawa doesn’t have.

The evidences that Dr. Sonia Zaide pointed-out in her argument that the first mass in the country occurred in Butuan, not Limasawa.

Saint James the Great Church

Also known as the Bolinao Church, it is a parish church in Bolinao, Pangasinan where a marker there claims that in 1324, 197 years from the widely-accepted 1521 version, the first Catholic Mass was held here. 

Fray Odorico Pordenone

He supposedly officiated the first Catholic Mass in the country in 1324 in Saint James the Great Church. 

Balintawak, Baesa, Bagobantay, Bahay Toro, Banlat, Culiat, Kangkong, Loma, Marulas, Talipapa, and Tangke

The 11 barrios of Caloocan at that time, a municipality of the province of Manila earlier. 

Unang Laban

This corresponds to the Cry (Unang Sigaw), according to Soledad Borromeo-Buehler.

Pasya & Pagpupunit

This corresponds to the Cry (Unang Sigaw), according to Teodoro Agoncillo and Isagani Medina.

The Katipunan encounter with a detachment of the Guardia Civil on August 26, 1896. 

What does “Unang Laban” mean in the context that this “Cry” started this event, according to Borromeo-Buehler?

Melchora Aquino’s house (Pasong Tamo, Banlat, Caloocan)

Pio Valenzuela insisted in 1917 that the Pagpupunit and Pasya occurred here.

Juan Ramos’ house (Bahay Toro, Caloocan)

Pio Valenzuela retracted his earlier 1917 statement, instead stated that the Pagpupunit and Pasya occurred here.

Pagpupunit on August 23, Pasya on August 24

Isagani Medina believed that it was Pagpupunit first that happened, before the Pasya on these dates.

1000 men

How many Katipuneros were present in Melchora Aquino’s house on August 24, 1896 during the Sigaw sa Pugadlawin event?

Santiago Alvarez

The account that over 1000 men were present in Aquino’s house during the Sigaw sa Pugadlawin event was from?

Revolt of the Masses

Written in 1956 by Teodoro Agoncillo, which is based on Pio Valenzuela’s memoirs that the Pagpupunit and Pasya occurred in Juan Ramos’ house in Bahay Toro, Caloocan.

Pugad Lawin Historical Committee

They investigated the “Cry” but did not find any fresh documents that the Cry occurred in other places other than Bahay Toro, Caloocan.

August 23, 1984

The date when the National Historical Institute placed a historical marker in Bahay Toro, Caloocan as the site of the Pagpupunit and Pasya.

Fr. Bernardino Nozaleda

He is the Archbishop of Manila that requested the Jesuit Professors of Rizal in Ateneo Municipal to give Rizal spiritual consolation and convince him to “retract” his freemasonry linkages.

Fr. Vicente Balaguer

He is one of the primary sources for the Retraction of Rizal, and he is one of the individuals who is with Rizal at his last hours before he was executed.

December 29, 1896

The date of the supposed Retraction of Rizal.

Rizal made a deal with the friars that he will make a retraction statement in return to a marriage ceremony and certificate with Josephine Bracken

Historians argue that Rizal did really retract, an opposite to his statement rejecting the offer by 11:00 am. Why?

Don Silvino Lopez Tunon

The Dean of the Manila Cathedral.

Fray Faura

Rizal “confessed” to him on December 29, 1896 before he took his last supper.

Fray Pio Pi

He is the Superior of Jesuit Mission in the Philippines that made the version of the retraction paper that was signed by Rizal.

Juan del Presno, Eloy Maure

The two witnesses and signatories of the retraction paper.

Fr. Vicente Balaguer

He was the one who married Rizal and Bracken at 06:00 am on December 30, 1896.

Gregorio Zaide

He argued that the supposed marriage between Rizal and Bracken is considered as “highly dubious” until the present time.

Gov. Gen Camilo G. Polavieja

He ordered the execution of Rizal in Bagumbayan on December 30, 1896.

1935

When was the retraction paper found?

Cuerpo de Vigilancia Manila

They were the Spanish spies stationed in prison cell of Rizal during his stay in Intramuros.

Federico Moreno

A member of the Cuerpo de Vigilancia Manila that produced the “independent eyewitness account” that Rizal did really retracted on December 29, 1896.