Contact the Diocesan Archivist
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INFORMATION
AVAILABLE IN SACRAMENTAL RECORDS
Parishes
have five kinds of Sacramental records: Baptismal (birth), Marriage, Death, First Communion, and Confirmation Records. Baptismal (birth), Marriage,
and Death contain information that can vary from record to
record and church to church. By the Code of Canon Law
(Church Law which governs the administration of our
parishes), pastors were required to maintain Sacramental
Records. The Code specified what kinds of information were to
be reported in those Records.
For a baptism --the child's name, his
or her date of birth (though some very early records omit this!!),
his or her date of baptism, the parents' names (including the mother's
maiden name) and sponsors' names along with the name of the officiating
priest.
Marriage records were to include the
complete names of the bride and groom, the date of the wedding,
and the names of the witnesses along with the officiating clergy.
On marriage records some pastors would add the names of the
parents of the bride and groom, perhaps indicate where the bride and
groom had been born, or even occasionally note the ages of the bride and
groom. This form of record-keeping was not consistent and
the information noted did vary by parish and by priest. Even two
records recorded at the same time by the same priest could and did have
different amounts of information.
Death records are very inconsistent
regarding the kind and quality of information because the Code was
not specific as to exactly what information was required.
Some pastor recorded only the person's name and date of services..
Other pastors recorded additional
information. Records
from the same time period and sometimes the same church can provide
vastly different amounts of information.
The information contained in First
Communion, and Confirmation Records is usually limited to
name and date the Sacrament was
received.
Parishes did not keep anything comparable to a census or detailed
registration form on parishioners.
After 1908 a change in Canon Law mandated that the church and date of
baptism be included on any Catholic marriage record for the Catholic
bride or groom. Records created before that time
( and unfortunately some after date) do not have that
information.
LOCATION OF SACRAMENTAL
RECORDS:
Sacramental Records ordinarily are maintained by the parish which
created them. Like many Dioceses, the Cleveland Diocese has
closed some parishes. Parishes closed prior to 1975 either had
their records sent to a parish of the same name in a suburban area or
were sent to a parish close to the area of the closed
church. The records of churches closed after 1975 were sent to the
Archives Office.
The Archives also has microfilmed records from some of our older
parishes throughout the Diocese. Unfortunately
many early records were not maintained because of the mission status
(and extreme shortage of priests) of Northern Ohio.
Though Catholics were present in the city since 1812, our earliest
Sacramental Records for the city of Cleveland date from the early
1840's.
ACCESS:
Our Diocesan policy is to keep our records closed. We can and do
research information on a time available basis. Please be patient
with us -- sometimes response may take two or three months depending
whatever projects the office is working on. We do send
requests to parishes which hold records but we cannot insist
that parishes research the information. Costs
are $10.00 per hour; $5.00 for each certificate. We bill
for ALL costs.
If
you'd like to begin an archival search, please fill out the form
below, then click submit. Archival searches cost $10.00/hr,
$5.00 for each certificate.
CLICK HERE TO GO TO ARCHIVE REQUEST FORM
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