Q: Why does the Church keep sacramental records?
A: The Church’s concern about the canonical status of persons and sacramental records (certificates, registers, etc.) is the way that the Church not only keeps that information but proves it when necessary. For example, canon law, for the most part, applies only to baptized Catholics or those received into the Catholic Church (c. 11). The normal way to prove baptism is through sacramental records.
Q: How is the system of sacramental records organized in the Church?
A: The sacramental record system in the Church is modeled after a European, and mostly Italian, system. This system is quite different from what most Americans are used to. There is no “original” baptismal certificate held in a filing cabinet somewhere. Rather, all certificates are extracts from the sacramental register. Very often at times of marriage, couples are worried that their parents may not have kept the baptismal certificate given at the time of baptism. They are relieved to hear that there is no original certificate and that a new one must be recently issued from the parish of baptism.
Q: How are sacramental records governed in the Church?
A: The Code of Canon Law governs sacramental records and registers. Dioceses may have laws or customs that also govern sacramental records and registers. Some dioceses have lengthy handbooks on sacramental records to assist parishes. Dioceses within an episcopal conference usually follow the same customs, even if not required by canon law.
Q: What records are to be kept?
A: Canon law requires parishes to have a baptismal register (cc. 535, 877), a marriage register (c. 535), a death register (cc. 535, 955), and any others that are prescribed by the episcopal conference or the diocesan bishop. While not a sacramental register per se, canon law does also require a register of Mass intentions (canon 955 §3). The diocesan curia is to have a register of ordinations (c. 1053 §1), a special marriage register for marriage dispensations (c. 1121 §3), and a special register for marriages celebrated secretly, to be kept in the secret archive of the curia (c. 1133).
In the United States, the conference of bishops requires a register of those who have entered the catechumenate (National Statutes for the Christian Initiation of Adults [NSCIA], 14) and a register of those received into the full communion of the Catholic Church (NSCIA, 16). In the absence of these registers, notations should be made in the parish’s baptismal register. The Book of the Elect, in which the catechumens enroll their names in anticipation of the Sacraments of Initiation, is also required (c. 788 §1, OCIA, 119; NSCIA, 15).
Most dioceses in the United States also require a first communion register and a confirmation register (in lieu of one held in the diocesan curia). Note that there is no register of first reconciliation: to protect the seal of confession, no notation should ever be made of a person’s reception of the sacrament of penance and certificates should never be issued. Other registers that could be mandated by diocesan law, though rare, could be a parish history register or a parish census register.
Q: Where are the sacramental registers to be kept in a parish?
A: Canon 535 §4 requires parishes to have a storage area, or archive, in which the parochial registers are protected. The pastor is to take care that the sacramental registers, which are to be inspected by the diocesan bishop or his delegate at the time of visitation or at some other opportune time, do not come into the hands of outsiders. This archive could be an actual room or a locked and protected filing cabinet. Older parochial registers are also to be carefully protected according to the prescripts of diocesan law (c. 535 §5). Many dioceses will appropriate registers over 75–100 years old for safekeeping at the diocesan archive and possibly for archival microfilming.
Q: Who oversees the sacramental records in a parish?
A: While the diocesan bishop is to take care that the documents of the parish archive are diligently preserved (c. 491 §1), the pastor of the parish is to see to it that the sacramental registers are accurately inscribed and carefully preserved (c. 535 §1). While various canons mandate that the pastor must record any sacraments in the appropriate register, he himself does not need to write the entry. He should, however, oversee that it is entered correctly. While it’s not necessary that the priest officiant of a sacrament sign each entry, many priests sign the register in order to proof the entry for any errors. Additionally, the vicar forane (dean, archpriest) has the duty and right of seeing that the parochial registers are inscribed correctly and protected appropriately in the parishes in his vicariate (c. 555 §1, 3).
Q: What about electronic databases?
A: While parish databases (such as PDS, ParishSOFT, etc.) are helpful in day-to-day parish operations, the physical sacramental registers are the only official record of a person’s status. In preparing a certificate, any electronic copy of a record must be compared with the register to assure that the copy corresponds identically to the original.
Q: Who has access to sacramental registers and records?
A: Only those with a need to access the records have access to them. This would include parents/guardians for minors, the person named in the record, or other parish/diocesan requesters (such as for sacramental preparation). Very little genealogical information is present in the sacramental records. Most dioceses have policies about how sacramental records, and which ones, can be used for genealogical research.
Q: What information is recorded in a baptismal record?
A: In the baptismal record, each person registered receives a number in the register. Registers are usually organized by volume, page, and entry number. The following information is recorded: the individual’s full name, birthdate, baptism date, name of the church/oratory where the baptism took place and its location, parents’ names (always using the mother’s maiden name), the names of godparents, the name of the minister who administered the baptism, and the individual’s ascription to a Church sui iuris (i.e., the Latin Catholic Church or one of the Eastern Catholic Churches). There are special instructions for registering baptisms of adopted children. Later, the date and place of confirmation will be recorded. Any subsequent marriages will be recorded with date and place. If a declaration of nullity is given for a marriage, that information will be recorded as well. Finally, reception of sacred orders, of perpetual profession made in a religious institute, and of change of ascription to a different Church sui iuris will be made in the baptismal register.
Q: Why is the baptismal register so important?
A: The baptismal register in a parish is the “home” of the records of all sacraments received. In it are noted confirmation and those things which pertain to the canonical status of the Christian faithful by reason of marriage, of adoption, of the reception of sacred orders, of perpetual profession made in a religious institute, and of change of ascription (c. 535 §). These notations are always to be noted on a baptismal certificate. This is why a recently issued baptismal certificate is requested at the time of marriage, or entrance into religious life or seminary. Notifications of sacraments that are administered outside of the home parish are sent to the parish of baptism for recording in the baptismal record.
