Church Records

What are Church Records?

Church records are also commonly known as Parish records. Unlike Western Europe, Romania was more religiously diverse and decentralized. The main church of the region, the Romanian Orthodox Church, today comprises about 75% of the population. Other than the Romanian Church, the Catholic Church is the second largest denomination, with its presence dating back centuries in the region. That being

Since keeping records as part of the civil registration systems did not start until the nineteenth century, parish records constitute an invaluable source of information about individuals; in many cases, they are the only source available for these individuals. These records can be divided into two broad categories: sacramental and non-sacramental records.

Sacramental Records

In the Orthodox Church, sacraments are called the Holy Mysteries, with the seven primary rites being first: Baptism, second: Chrismation(confirmation), third: Eucharist (communion), forth: Confession, firth, Holy Unction (the anointing of the sick), sixth: marriage, and seventh: Ordination (for those ordained to the Priesthood). Of these, records are most commonly found for baptisms, marriages, and ordinations. As a general rule, these records all follow the same format in their recording and include more and more information as time goes on. In the early days of these records, they were kept in Old Slavonic, the common language of the Orthodox Church before switching to Romanian in later Centuries.

In the Catholic Church, there are seven significant sacraments or Christian rites, which are seen as channels to the grace of God and, as such, are essential to the Catholic faith. Since the Council of Trent (1545-1563), parish priests have been required to keep records of certain ordinances or sacraments in records called parish registers. These include records of baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and deaths and burials. Although the specific information required to be recorded in parish registers has changed from time to time, the formats of christening, marriage, and death entries have remained essentially the same.

Non-Sacramental Records

Parish records also include records that record other events that are not related to the sacraments of the Catholic church. These other records include fraternal order books, church censuses, account books, and local history documents. While not used as often as sacramental records in family history research, they can often be a valuable source of additional information.

The recording of these different records, both sacramental and otherwise, begin as early as the late 16th century and becomes more common in the 17th century.