Argentina Catholic Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Foreign Language Title
Argentina, Registros Parroquiales de la Iglesia Católica

Collection Time Period
This collection of several parish records (such as baptism, marriage, and burial records) from several ecclesiastical jurisdictions of Argentina may cover the years from 1580 to the present.

Record History
Church records in Argentina were created in the city of Buenos Aires as early as 1580. However, this first book is missing from the Catholic Church’s archives. Other parishes began registering records in the state of Buenos Aires about 1769. Some of the records in several other localities date back to even earlier than the year 1580. The records were microfilmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah,

The Catholic Church is organized in ecclesiastical jurisdictions such as archbishoprics, dioceses, and local parishes. The church registers were and are created by the priest in charge of the parish where the ordinance was performed. The records are kept in a register in the local parish archive, and a duplicate copy is sent to the corresponding diocese or archdiocese for archival preservation.

In earlier years, one parish jurisdiction may have included more than one town or villa because priests traveled from one town to another baptizing most of the people.

Why This Collection Was Created?
The priests created the registers to record all the sacramental ordinances performed. Later, the local civil authorities also used these records for statistical purposes before the civil registration was implemented in 1930.

Record Reliability
Catholic Church parish registers are the primary source for birth, death, and marriage records in Argentina prior to 1930, when the civil registration was implemented.

Record Description
The earlier records from this collection are all handwritten in a narrative format. Some later records are handwritten on printed forms, which may vary slightly from one priest to another. Generally, these records were written in chronological order. In smaller parishes, one book was used for all the ordinances (such as baptisms, marriages, and deaths). In larger cities, records of the different types of sacred ordinances were kept in separate books. Confirmations were generally recorded in the baptismal registers. Some of the older records are damaged, but most of the genealogical information can be extracted.

Record Content
The key genealogical facts found in most baptism records are: • Place of baptism • Date of baptism • Gender of the child • Date of birth • Name of the child baptized • Legitimacy • Parents’ names • Residence of the parents • Paternal grandparents’ names • Maternal grandparents’ names • Godparents’ names

The key genealogical facts found in most marriage records are: • Place of marriage • Date of marriage • Names of the groom and bride • Witnesses’ names • Groom’s age • Bride’s age • Marital status of the groom and bride • Groom’s parents • Bride’s parents

The key genealogical facts found in most burial records are: • Deceased’s place of burial • Date of burial • Age at time of death • Deceased’s name • Deceased’s marital status and the spouse’s name, if married • Legitimacy • Parents’ names • Residence of the deceased • Place of death • Cause of death

How to Use the Records
Catholic Church parish records are an excellent source for genealogical research in Argentina. The records of baptism, marriage, and death may contain important information about other generations of ancestors. These may also be the only records available before the implementation of civil registration in 1930. After this date, civil authorities began registering vital statistics, which by law includes people of all religions. For genealogical purposes, the information in civil sources confirms and supplements the information in church records. To find the record of an ancestor, a person needs to know at least the name of the ancestor and a place and approximate year of an event in the ancestor’s life. If indexes are available, it is suggested to check for the name there first.

Related Wiki Articles
Argentina Church Records

Related Websites
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Sources of This Collection
These are digital copies of the original records that are housed at diocesan archives throughout Argentina.