Maligayang Pasko – Feliz Pascua – Happy Easter
by AZA Antonio Zebedeo Abad, 4-April-2021 #500YearsofChristianityinthePhilippines 500 years ago, journalist Antonio Pigafetta wrote in his journal: Domenica di Pasqua, 31 marzo 1521, Pasqua in Butuán.[1. Pigafetta, Antonio. La primera vuelta al mundo - Relación de la expedición de Magallanes y Elcano. trans. It. to Sp. ¨Relazione del primo viaggio intorno al mondo¨, Isabel de Riquer. Amazon Kindle Edition, Alianza Editorial, Madrid, España, 28-Marzo-2019.] This was the first Easter mass celebrated by the Magallanes-Elcano expedition in Butuán, in what they named as the Archipelago of St Lazarus, known today as the Philippine Islands. The expedition was sponsored by the Crown of Castilla.[2. In 1521, there was no country known as Spain. It was the Crown of Castille that was the dominant kingdom of the Iberian Peninsula.] This was then the…