Albania Church Records

Introduction
For information about records for non-Christian religions in Albania not discussed in this article, go to the Religious Records page.

Church records were recorded by church clergymen and include baptism, marriage, and burial registers. These parish registers include Roman-Catholic and Greek-Orthodox congregations. Church books are a primary source of birth, marriage, and death information for Christian ancestors from Albania. They identify names of parents, prove relationships, and are very useful for linking generations. It is important to remember that historically only about 30% of the Albania's population was Christian.

The most-commonly practiced religion in Albania is Islam (mainly Sunni or Bektashi), the second-most-commonly practiced religion is Christianity (mainly Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant), however there are also many irreligious people.

Albania is constitutionally a secular country since 1967, and as such, "neutral in questions of belief and conscience": The former Communist dictatorship declared Albania as the world's first and only "Atheist state". Believers faced harsh punishments, and many clergymen were killed.

Coverage
The earliest church records date from about 1700; many date from the late 1800s. Most churches continued to keep records until the latter 1940s. Many continued until 1950 when ruthless persecution of clergy and religion brought an end to the keeping of these records. A few churches kept records as late as 1967. Only 30% of the population was Christian, so the majority of Albanians will not be found in these records.

Content

 * Baptisms – name of individual, date of birth and baptism, names of parents (including mother's maiden name), names of godparents.
 * Marriages – names of the groom and bride, ages, date and place of marriage; sometimes birthplaces and parents of groom and bride; names and residences of witnesses; other pertinent facts.
 * Deaths and Burials – name of the deceased, date and place of death and burial, age at time of death, marital status, cause of death, name of spouse; for children often also parents’ names.
 * Other Lists – confirmations, nuptials and proclamations, church census, chronologies, masses observed, bestowal of property, leases, church correspondence, visitations, statistics, etc. Some of these additional lists date from as early as 1600.

Accessing the Records
Some Church records may be with local parishes or Dioceses. Responsibility for keeping these records lies with the Central State Archives of Albania in Tiranë which has many of the older church records. These archives are accessible to scholars. Some records may also be in other storage facilities. Additionally, some church records may have been acquired by civil registration offices or kept by the church. Unfortunately there has been considerable loss of church records in Albania.

The Family History Library has microfilmed 30% of Albania's church records, including most of the existing records of the district of Shkodër.

Digital Copies of Church Records in the FamilySearch Catalog
Watch for digitized copies of church records to be added to the collection of the FamilySearch Library. Some records might have viewing restrictions, and can only be viewed at a Family History Center near you, and/or by members of supporting organizations. To find records:
 * a. Click on the records of Albania.
 * b. Click on Places within Albania and a list of towns will appear.
 * c. Click on your town if it appears, or the location which you believe was the parish which served your town or village.
 * d. Click on the "Church records" topic. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.
 * e. Some combination of these icons will appear at the far right of the listing for the record. FHL icons.png. The magnifying glass indicates that the record is indexed. Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the records.

Writing for Records
You will probably need to write to or email the national archives, the diocese, or local parish priests to find records. Use Letter Writing Guide for Genealogy for help with composing letters. Then, use an Albanian translation service.
 * Maps.me Church Listings for Albania
 * Google Maps search results for churches in Albania

Writing for Records

 * The Catholic Directory: Albania
 * Google Maps search results for Catholic churches in Albania

Historical Background
In the 2011 census, about 10.03% of Albania's population declared Roman Catholic Christianity as of 2011 census.Albania once numbered eighteen episcopal Sees, some of them having uninterrupted activity from the dawn of the Catholicism until today. The country has been a Roman Catholic bridgehead in the Balkans, with Catholic Albanians playing a role not unlike the Croats in the former Yugoslavia. However, Ottoman rule ultimately vastly decreased the number of Catholics in Albania and elsewhere in the Balkans, with waves of conversions to Islam and to a lesser extent Orthodoxy occurring especially in the 17th century after a series of failed rebellions and punitive measures which involved drastic raises in the taxes of the Catholic population.

Writing for Records
These do not necessarily show three different churches, but just responses to different keywords used in the search engline--lots of overlap.
 * Google Maps search results for Greek Orthodox churches in Albania
 * Google Maps search results for Albanian Orthodox churches in Albania
 * Online Address List
 * Google Maps search results for Eastern Orthodox churches in Albania

Historical Background
According to the 2011 Census, 6.75% of the Albanian population adhere to the Albanian Orthodox Church. Three ethnic groups, Albanians, Greeks, and Aromanians, account for the vast majority of Albania's Orthodox believers. Metropolitan Theofan Fan Noli established the Albanian Orthodox Mission under the American diocese. The Orthodox Church was allowed no official existence in communist Albania. Between 1890 and 1920, approximately 25,000 Albanians, the majority of them Orthodox Christians from southeastern Albania, emigrated to the United States, settling in and around Boston. Like many other Orthodox immigrants, they were predominantly young, illiterate, male peasants. Like so many other Balkan immigrants, a large number (almost 10,000) returned to their homeland after World War I.

Historical Background
The Albanian Greek Catholic Church exists in southern Albania and is under an Apostolic Administration. It has less than 4,000 members.

Writing for Records

 * Google Maps search results for Protestant churches in Albania
 * Google Maps search results for Albanian Evangelical churches in Albania

Historical Background
In the early 19th century, in accordance with the Protestant practice of making the Scriptures available to all people in their common tongue, the British and Foreign Bible Society began to make plans for the translation, printing, and distribution of the New Testament in Albanian. Soon Alexander Thomson, a Scottish missionary, joined the Society and visited Albania in 1863. In the late 19th century the Society's workers traveled throughout Albania distributing Bibles, under the leadership of Gjerasim Qiriazi who converted, preached the Gospel in Korça, and became the head of the first "Evangelical Brotherhood". Qiriazi sought official government recognition for the Albanian Evangelical Church in 1887, a pursuit which would not be fulfilled until 10 March 2011.