Spain Church Records

Catholic Church Records

Catholicism's roots extend deep into Spain's history. Parish and diocesan records created by the Catholic Church in Spain have long been considered some of the richest genealogical records in the world. Ever since the Council of Trent Catholic parish records have been consistently recorded, usually providing three generations in a single baptismal entry.

The vast majority of Spaniards are Catholic and so almost every Spaniard can be found in the records of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church was the primary record keeper of births, marriages, and deaths, until civil registration started in 1869.

Some church records have been lost or have deteriorated due natural disasters such as fire, flood, and earthquakes. Civil and political strife has also caused record loss, including during time of the Spanish Civil War.

The Catholic Church has created several different records. The most used in genealogical research include: baptisms (bautizos, bautismos), marriages (matrimonios), and burials (entierros, defunciones, fallecimientos). Other records include: confirmations (confimaciones), pre-marriage investigations (expedientes matrimoniales, información matrimonial).

Tip: If you are researching after 1869 when Civil Registration started in Spain both church and civil records should be searched since there may be information in one record that does not appear in the other.

Parish Records

Parish records are the most common Church record used in family history and genealogical research. Spanish Catholic parish records were recorded by local parish priests, however, most of the records (older than 100 years) have been centralized into the diocesan archive to which the parish belongs. Parish records include the following:

Baptisms
Confirmations (sometimes recorded in the parish baptism book, but sometimes they are recorded in their own book(s)
Marriages (marriage blessings velaciones sometimes are found separately)
Marriage Information Files
Deaths or Burials

To learn more about each type of record, click on the name of the record type to be led to another article about that record type.

Diocesan Records

Spain is divided into 70 dioceses. Each dioceses is divided into many parishes. Dioceses created several different types of records. These records can be searched in diocesan archives throughout Spain. Some diocesan records have been microfilmed and are available through the Family History Library (FHL). Perform a Place Search in the FamilySearch Catalog for the dioceses where your ancestor lived. Diocesan records include:

Administrative and Financial
Disciplinary and Judicial
Marriage Dispensations and Pre-marriage Investigations
Pastoral Visits and Confirmations

Locating Diocesan and Parish Records

There are three different ways to obtain Spanish Catholic Church records.

Online

Not very many Church records have been digitized and placed online but the numbers are growing. The following archives have placed either indexes or images online.

Archivo Histórico Diocesano de San Sebastián (Guipúzcoa)
Archivo Histórico Diocesano de Álava (Vitoria)
Archivo Histórico Eclesiástico de Vizcaya (Bilbao) To search all three provinces at once visit the website Dokuklik and click on the words Registros sacramentales to use the search engine.
Archivo Histórico Archidiocesano de Tarragona Requires a free subscription. To learn more about how to navigate the site see Archdiocese of Tarragona Online Parish Records.
Archivo Diocesano de Valencia Requires a free subscription. These are only indexed records. You can then order them from the Archive for a fee. This page is found only in Spanish and Valencian.
Archivo Diocesano de Pamplona(Email Only) Contact information for the dioceses archive in the region of Navarra. You will need to send an email to them in Spanish and give them as much detail as possible. You will have to pay a small fee for each record plus shipping.

Family History Library (FHL) and Family History Centers (FHCs)

The FHL is the largest genealogical library in the world. The FHL has microfilmed parish records for about 1/3 of Spain's dioceses. To determine if the FHL has microfilmed records for the parish (or dioceses) your ancestors lived, perform a Place Search in the FamilySearch Catalog. You will also want to check to see if any records have been extracted/indexed and placed in the IGI. You can learn more about by reading: Finding the Source of IGI Batch Numbers

Indexed records available on FamilySearch

Digital images available on FamilySearch

Spain, Catholic Church Records, 1500-1930

Archive Research

This can be done either through letter correspondence, email (sometimes), or researching in person. Please see the Spain Catholic Church Directories article for more contact information for dioceses and parishes. You can find diocesan websites at:Conferencia Episcopal Diocesis please visit the site to determine if you can make an email request. Another site with good information on the archives of Spain (both ecclesiastical and government) is the Censo-Guía de Archivos de España e Iberoamérica (http://aer.mcu.es/sgae/index_censo_guia.jsp). While it is only available in Spanish, it can provide detailed information on the collections and documents within an archive and allows you to narrow your search down to specific archives.

Wiki articles describing online collections are found at:

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