Spain, Catholic Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

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

Record Description
This collection of Catholic parish records covers 1500 through 1930. The collection includes records from the dioceses of Avila, Ciudad Real, Ciudad Rodrigo, Gerona, Lugo, Murcia, and Segovia. The Spain, Granada, Pre-Marriage Investigation Index covers 1556-1899.

Most of the records were handwritten in narrative style. In later years, the records may be handwritten in formatted registers. Entries were created in chronological order with the exception of a few entries. Early registers may have some ecclesiastical wording written in Latin, but the main language of the records is Spanish.

Parish priests performed the baptisms, marriages, deaths, burials, and other holy sacraments in their assigned parish or parishes. All the original parish records were kept in the parish archive, and a duplicate copy was and is centralized in the corresponding diocesan archive. Most of the parish records in Spain have been preserved relatively well, but some older entries may have some damage.

Usually separate registers were maintained for baptisms, marriages, and deaths. However, in localities with a small population, the records of baptisms, marriages, and burials were recorded in the same register. Confirmations were usually recorded with the baptismal registers but can also be found with deaths and marriages.

For a list of records by localities currently published in the Spain, Catholic Church records, 1500-1930 collection, select the Browselink from the collection landing page.

Record Content
The Catholic Church parish registers were created to record the church sacraments of baptism, marriage, death and burial, and other ordinances pertaining to members within the church jurisdiction. Thus, they are a reliable source for doing genealogical research in Spain.

The Catholic parish records are an excellent source for genealogical research in Spain. These may also be the only records available for vital information research before civil registration was implemented in 1871.

Baptismal records usually contain the following information:


 * Date, time and place of death
 * Name and age of deceased
 * Residence and civil status of deceased
 * Place of birth
 * Spouse's name, if married and his/her place of birth
 * Names of witnesses
 * Burial information

How to Use the Record
As you are searching it is helpful to know such information as your ancestor’s given name and surname, some identifying information such as residence and age, and family relationships. To begin your search you should know the following:
 * The person’s name
 * The approximate location of an event

Keep in mind:
 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names or variations of their name throughout their life.
 * The information in records is usually reliable, but depends upon the reliability of the informant.

To search the 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.

For Help Reading These Records
These records are in Spanish or Latin. For help reading the records, see the following wiki articles:


 * Spanish Genealogical Word List
 * Latin Genealogical Word List
 * Reading Spanish handwritten records
 * Script tutorial for Spanish

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

 * Spanish Genealogy
 * Hispanic Genealogy Blog is written in English.
 * Blog de Genealogía Hispaña Blog is written in Spanish.
 * Genealogía Española-España GenWeb Website is in Spanish.

Related Wiki Articles

 * Spain
 * Spain Catholic Church Records
 * Spain Catholic Church Directories

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
Citations for individual image records are available for this collection. Browse through images in this collection and click on the “Show Citation” box:


 * Spain, Catholic Church Records, 1500-1930

When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information. This will help you or others to find the record again. 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.

A suggested format for keeping track of records that you have searched is found in the wiki article Help:How to Cite FamilySearch Collections.

Citation for This Collection:
The following citation refers to the original source of the information published in FamilySearch.org Historical Record collections. Sources include the author, custodian, publisher and archive for the original records.