Peru Catholic Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Title in the Language of the Records
Registros parroquiales de la Iglesia Católica en Perú.

Record Description
This collection of church records covers the years 1603 to 1992. The text of the records is in Spanish.

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 baptism, marriage, and death). In larger cities, records of the different types of sacred ordinances were kept in separate books. Confirmations were generally written in the baptismal registers. Some of the older records are damaged, but most of the genealogical information can be extracted.

This collection of church records covers several parishes in dioceses and archdioceses of Peru. Some of the records in this collection may have been created in a different ecclesiastical jurisdiction than the one where these are currently housed. All the sacramental ordinances were created, registered, and kept by the priest in authority of his parish jurisdiction. The parish jurisdiction may include sub-parishes in other nearby localities. One copy of the records is kept at the parish archive; another copy is sent to the diocesan archive for preservation. Most of the parish records in this collection were acquired at the diocesan archives.

Catholic Church parish registers were created by priests authorized to record the church sacraments of baptism, marriage, death, burial, and other ordinances in their parish jurisdiction.

Catholic Church parish registers are the primary source for finding genealogical information of birth, death, and marriage in Peru prior to 1852, when the civil registration was implemented.

For a list of records by localities and dates currently published in this collection, select the Browse link from the collection landing page.

Record Content
Baptismal records usually contain the following information:


 * Date and place of burial
 * Name of deceased
 * Age and marital status of deceased
 * Spouse’s name, if married
 * Legitimacy (not always)
 * Residence of the deceased
 * Place of death
 * Cause of death

How to Use the Record
To search the collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒ Select the "Browse" link in the initial search page ⇒ Select the appropriate "Department" ⇒ Select the appropriate "City or Town" ⇒ Select the appropriate "Parish" ⇒ Select the appropriate "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.

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. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name as your ancestor and that your ancestor may have used nicknames or different names at different times.

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

Spanish Genealogical Word List

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
Peru - The WorldGenWeb Project

Related Wiki Articles

 * Peru
 * Peru Church History
 * Peru Church Directories
 * Peru Church Records

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.