As taken up in Part 19 last week, the evolution of the historical narrative of the First Mass in Masaua reached a crucial turning point when Blair and Robertson's 55-volume The Philippine Islands 1493-1898 was published in 1905 or early during the American colonial period. With hardly any supporting evidence, the book's English translation of the long-lost Pigafetta manuscript of the Magellanic voyage chronicles (Vol. 33) appended the following tiny footnote giving imprimatur to the island of Limasawa as the true First Mass site:
"'MS. 5,650, Mazaua;' in Eden, 'Messana;' in Mosto, 'Mazana,' while in the chart it appears as 'Mazzana;' Transylvavus, 'Massana;' and Albo 'Mazava.' It is now called the island of Limasawa, and has an area of about ten and one-half square miles."
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