Spain, Diocese of Ávila, Catholic Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Foreign Language Title
España, Ávila Registros Parroquiales de la Iglesia Católica

Collection Time Period
The Family History Library collection of the Roman Catholic Church parish records of the Diocese of Avila, Spain covers the years from 1502 to 1978.

Why was this collection created?
Spanish Catholic parish registers were created to record the church sacraments of baptism, marriage, deaths, burials, and other ordinances.

Collection History
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; however, the older records were centralized in the diocesan archive, as it is done currently.

How to Use the Collection
The Catholic parish records are an excellent source for genealogical research in Spain. These may also be the only records available for Spanish research before civil registration was implemented in 1871.

Collection Content
Important genealogical information found in Catholic baptismal records include: • Date and place of the event • Name of person baptized • When and where the child was born or age at time of baptism • If legitimate or illegitimate • Parents names, their residence or place of birth • Names of maternal/paternal grandparents and names of godparents

Important genealogical information found in Catholic marriage records include: • Date and place of the event • Complete maiden name of the bride and groom • Civil status (widowed, single, divorce) at the time of the event • Place and date of birth of the couple (natural of) • Occupation • Parents names, their residence or place of birth (natural of) • Sometimes, the parent’s civil status • Names of witnesses

Important genealogical information found in Catholic death records include: • Date and place where the person died • Name of the deceased, age or date and place of birth • Cause of death (illness, accident, senility, etc.) • Residence of the deceased • Sometimes it will also mention the deceased parent's names and where they were naturally from. • Testament information (If he/she left a testament it will include the name of the children, deceased civil status (widowed, single, divorce), name and place of birth of the spouse)

Collection Description
Some of the parish records from Avila have been preserved well, but some others have lots of 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. Generally, entries were created in chronological order. Early registers may have some ecclesiastical documents written in Latin.

Population Coverage
Catholic parish records cover 95 to 100% of a city’s population. This collection only includes the parish records that were centralized into the diocesan archive.

Collection Reliability
Catholic Church parish records are a reliable source for doing Spanish genealogical research.