Philippines, Lingayen-Dagupan Catholic Archdiocese Parish Registers - FamilySearch Historical Records

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Title in the Language of the Record

Filipinas, registros parroquiales de la Arquidiócesis Católica de Lingayen

Record Description

This collection of registers covers the years from 1615 to 1982.

These records include indexes to baptisms, marriages, and burials from the Catholic Church parish registers of the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan covering the years 1615-1982.

Entries for baptisms, marriages, and deaths (burials) usually consist of a narrative paragraph. Dates are usually spelled out and the name of the principal person is usually written in the margin next to the entry. After about 1920, preprinted forms with columns were sometimes used.

Since about 1600, up to 85 percent of people living in the Philippines have been members of the Roman Catholic Church.

Catholic Church records began to be recorded in the Philippines in 1569 with some records dating earlier.

There was no separation of church and state in the Philippines until the end of the Spanish administration in 1898. Generally, parish priests recorded civil and ecclesiastical documents.

Catholic Church parish registers in the Philippines were created to record the church sacraments of baptism, confirmation, marriage, and burial.

Church records are very important for family research. Civil authorities did not consistently register vital events in the Philippines until the nineteenth century. Church records, on the other hand, were well kept from 1569 (in accordance with the directives of the Council of Trent), with some records dating even earlier. They are generally an excellent source—and many times the only source—of names, dates, and places of births, marriages, and deaths.

Parish registers are the best records in the Philippines to identify individuals, parents, and spouses before the nineteenth century. After this date, civil authorities began registering vital statistics, which became equally important. The information in civil sources confirms and supplements the information in church records.

See the Philippines Church Records article for more details.

Record Content

Baptism records may contain the following information:

Name of child
Gender of child
Age of child
Approximate year of birth
Place and date of baptism
Names of the parents

Marriage records may contain the following information:

Name of bride and groom
Gender of bride and groom
Ages
Approximate year of birth
Name of bride and groom's parents
Place and date of marriage
Names of the godparents

Death or burial records may contain the following information:

Name of deceased
Gender of deceased
Age at time of death
Approximate year of birth
Place and date of death
Name of the spouse
Names of parents
Cause of death

How to Use the Record

To search this collection for baptism records, it would be helpful if you knew the following information:

Name of parents
Approximate year and place of baptism
Residence

To search this collection for marriage records, it would be helpful if you knew the following information:

Name of bride or groom
Approximate year and place of marriage
Residence

To search this collection for death records, it would be helpful if you knew the following information:

Name of deceased
Approximate year and place of death

Search the Collection

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 look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination. 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.

For Help Reading These Records

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

Spanish Genealogical Word List

Tips to Keep in Mind

Usually, marriages occurred about one year before the first child was born.
When looking for your ancestor’s baptismal record, remember that the entries are arranged chronologically.
The parish registers may list the godparents while the civil records may list the grandparents. Be sure to search both the parish and civil records after 1860 since some families did not consistently register their children with either the church or the government.

Unable to Find Your Ancestor?

Note the founding date of the parish you are searching. If the date is after your ancestor would be recorded, search records of the parent parish. See the Catholic Directory of the Philippines. If your ancestor lived before the beginning date of the church records, the older parish may be far from the new one.
If you cannot find records at a parish, they may have been sent to the diocese. Find the diocese in the Catholic Directory of the Philippines.

General Information About These Records

Catholic Church records in the Philippines are generally an excellent source. They are often the only source of information about births, marriages, and deaths.

Parish registers consist primarily of entries for baptisms, marriages, and deaths (burials). The registers sometimes include confirmations or parish census records and the baptismal entries may include a birth date.

Related Websites

Philippine History

Contributions to This Article

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Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections

When you copy information from a record, you should also 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 Example for a Record Found in This Collection

"Philippines, Lingayen-Dagupan Catholic Archdiocese Parish Registers, 1615-1982" Images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org: accessed 30 September 2011), Silvestra Camorongan, 11 April 1919; citing Church Records, FHL micorfilm 1,213,758; Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan, Dagupan City Pangasinan, Philippines.

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.

Collection Citation:
The citation for this collection can be found on the Collection Details Page in the section Cite This Collection.