Costa Rica, Catholic Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Title in the Language of the Records
Registros Parroquiales de la Iglesia Católica en Costa Rica.

Record Description
These records are in Spanish. This collection includes records from 1595 to 1992.

Parish priests performed the baptisms, confirmations, marriages, deaths, burials, and other holy sacraments in their assigned parish or parishes. For a complete list of all the parishes included in this collection, see the Parishes of Costa Rica coverage table.

All the original parish records were kept in the parish archive; however, the older records were centralized in the archdiocesan archive, as it is done currently. Parish records cover 95 to 100% of a city’s population. This collection only includes the parish records that were centralized at the archdiocesan archive at the time of filming.

These parish records have been preserved relatively well. Some of the older registers may appear to have some physical damage; therefore some data may have been lost or may be very difficult to read, however, in general they are in good condition to extract genealogical information.

The Catholic Church parish records are an excellent source for genealogical research in Costa Rica. These may also be the only records available before the implementation of the civil registration in 1887.

Record Content
Baptismal records may the following information:


 * Baptism date and place
 * Name of person baptized
 * When and where person was born
 * Age at time of baptism
 * Legitimacy
 * Parents' names, residence, and/or place of birth
 * Names of maternal and paternal grandparents
 * Names of godparents

Confirmation records may contain the following information:


 * Name
 * Parents' names
 * Godparents
 * Parish of origin
 * Parish of baptism

Marriage records may contain the following information:


 * Date and place of the marriage
 * Name of groom
 * Groom's age, civil status and occupation
 * Groom's birth place and current residence
 * Groom's parents' names
 * Name of bride
 * Bride's age, civil status and occupation
 * Bride's birth place and current residence
 * Bride's parents' names
 * Godparents' names
 * Names of witnesses

Death records may contain the following information:


 * Date and place of death
 * Name and age of deceased
 * Cause of death
 * Name of spouse if married
 * Residence of deceased
 * Name of cemetery

How to Use the Records
To search this collection using the index, fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the ancestors in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to compare the information about more than one person to find your ancestor.

Be aware there may be inaccuracies such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

Be sure and view the image because there is often additional information.

To browse this collection by image, follow this series of links: ⇒ Select the "Browse" link in the initial search page ⇒ Select the "City or Town" ⇒ Select the "Parish" ⇒ Select the "Record Type and Years" which takes you to the images.

Search the collection by image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine which one is your ancestor. You may need to compare the information about more than one person to make this determination.

Indexes are available on some of these groups of images. If indexes are available, check these for the name first. Indexes are usually located at the beginning of a group of images or at the end. They are also located in individual folders. Find your ancestors name and look for the locator information next to the name (such as page, entry, or certificate number). This will help you find the record you are looking for in the collection.

For Help Reading These Records
These records are in Spanish. For help reading the records, see the following resources:


 * Spanish Genealogical Word List
 * BYU Spanish Script Tutorial
 * FamilySearch Learning Center videos:
 * Reading Spanish Handwritten Records, Lesson 1
 * Reading Spanish Handwritten Records, Lesson 2
 * Reading Spanish Handwritten Records, Lesson 3

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached Wiki article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org.] Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

Related Websites

 * Online Maps
 * Online History
 * Costa Rica Genealogy

Related Wiki Articles
Costa Rica

Citations for This Collection
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information (often called citing your sources). This will help people find the record again and evaluate the reliability of the source. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records. Citations are available for the collection as a whole and each record or image individually.

Collection citation:

Record citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image citation: