MAASIN CITY -- A local official asked the people in Southern Leyte to participate in the 496th First Mass celebration in Limasawa town after Malacañang declared March 31 as special non-working day in the province.
Lone district Representative Roger Mercado asked locals to help in the promotion of Limasawa’s significant role in Philippine history by participating in various events.
“People can celebrate the First Mass without worrying about being absent at work since it’s a holiday,” Mercado said on Friday, March 24.
Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea signed Proclamation 161 on February 15, as “it is but fitting that the people of the province be given the opportunity to celebrate and participate in the occasion with appropriate ceremonies.”
The declaration of Malacañang was in response to the request of the people of Southern Leyte, through a resolution passed by Mercado, seeking the declaration of March 31 as a special non-working holiday in the province.
Among the activities on March 31 is a foot procession carrying Sto. Niño de Cebu from Maasin Cathedral to Maasin port. It will be followed with a fluvial parade from Maasin port Magallanes village in Limasawa island town.
The arrival of the Image of Sto. Niño de Cebu will be received by thousands of pilgrims in the island. There will be a foot procession going to the Limasawa shrine, according to the local tourism office.
The first Holy Mass held 496 years ago on March 31, 1521, an Easter Sunday, was celebrated by Father Pedro Valderama, the only priest in the Andalusion fleet.
It was the first in the Far East that saw the birth of Roman Catholicism in the country. Today, the Philippines remains as the only majority-Catholic country in Asia.
The mass was offered by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who discovered the Philippines on his world journey.
A national shrine was put up in Magallanes village where Magellan and his crew held the first mass at sunrise.
The town has a population of 6,061 in the 2015 Census. Only 40 percent are Roman Catholics, while the 60 percent belong to 13 other religions, mostly Aglipayans.
It is composed of the six villages of Triana, the town center, Magallanes, Cabulihan, Lungsongan, San Agustin and San Bernardo. There are now beach resorts and pension houses that catered to a growing number of tourists the past years. (PNA)