The first Catholic Mass in Luzon was held in the town of Magallanes. The place was formerly called “Gibalon” or “Ibalon”.
While the Spanish navigator Miguel Lopez de Legaspi was still in Cebu, he wrote King Philip II in 1567 requesting for the Catholic religion to be sent to the Philippines. In reply to de Legazpi, the King ordered the Provincial of the Order of St. Augustine in New Spain (now Mexico) to dispatch the religious of his Order to the Philippines to help propagate and spread the Christian faith.
Fray Alonso Jimenez, O. SA along with Fray Juan de Alva. O.SA boarded the ship “San Juan” under the command of Captain Juan Lopez de Aguirre. They arrived in Cebu in 1569.
An expedition in 1569 to the other islands from Cebu was led by Urdaneta and Jimenez Sailing northeasterly coming from Oton, Panay and across Ticao Pass to Sorsogon Province, the expedition landed on the shore of Sorsogon Bay. Apparently, the missionary group of Fray Alonso Jimenez and Fray Juan de Alva were directed to follow the course of very upstream (Sorsogon) towards the village of Gibalon
The river is called Ginangra River where a sitio “Hibal-ong” was situated. The friars rode on a simple raft and rowing further inland, landed on a hilly spot.
There in Sitio Gibalon the first Catholic Mass in the island of Luzon was celebrated by Fray Alonso Jimenez.
