Tunisia Church Records

Africa Tunisia

Christians constitute a very small minority of the population in Tunisia. Among the Christian denominations, Roman Catholics are the majority, followed by the Greek Orthodox church and various Protestant churches. Some interesting statistics are found here.

Roman Catholics
Roman Catholic parish registers begin as early as 1734. The Diocese of Tunis was established in 1843 as an apostolic vicariate. Major historical churches are the Cathedral of St. Vincent de Paul in Tunis and the former Cathedral of St. Louis in Carthage (now a museum).

Index of baptisms, marriages, and deaths
Efforts to index the baptism-, marriage-, and death registers of this diocese begun in 2004 have resulted in a free online index of over 500,000 entries. The website is written in French.

Guidelines and explanations:

1. Only indexes are available here. Please do not contact the compiler to request copies of records or further genealogical research.

2.Baptism indexes provide the following information:

- time period covered: 1830-2005

- given name and surname of the child (may be written in a French, Italian, or Latin form]

- father's gicven name, followed by the mother's given name and surname

- he parish where the baptism was performed

- the year of baptism

- the entry number in the baptismal register

3.Marriage indexes provide the following information:

- time period covered: 1801-1949

- names of bride and groom [index is searchable by either name]

- name of parish where the marriage was performed

- year and record number in the register

This index can also be browsed by clicking on the alphabetical segments found below the search box.

4. Burial indexes provide the following information:

- given name and surname of the deceased

- spouse's name, if given in the record

- parish where the ceremony took place

- year of burial and record number in the register

Reasons why a person may not be found in the index:

1. variant spellings of given name or surname

2. the event may have occurred in another country, such as neighboring Algiers, or the immigrant's country of origin

Earlier Burial Records
Another index of 1620 burials from the records of the parish of St. Croix de Tunis, which covers the years 1736 to 1831 is found here. This was the only Catholic parish in Tunisia in the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries.

This list can be searched alphabetically or chronologically.

Obtaining copies of records
The actual church records are the property of the Catholic Church of Tunisia. To obtain copies, follow these steps:

- send a written request to M. le Chancelier de la Prélature de Tunis, 4 rue d'Alger, 1000 Tunis, TUNISIE

- enclose the cost of 6.10 Euros per record requested

- Be patient. It may take several months to receive a reply.