Catholic Church History and Genealogy Research Guide and Worldwide Directory

Local Catholic Church History and Genealogy Research Guide and Worldwide Directory

If you DO NOT know the name and location of your ancestors' Catholic Church/Parish, or it no longer exists:
You will need to determine the parish to which your ancestor belonged, and this may involve some HISTORICAL DETECTIVE work on your part.

Their parish will likely be the local Catholic Church nearest their home (geographically). However, as time passed, and the population of an area grew (or diminished), there was often a need to build new churches, and establish new dioceses and parishes.

Therefore, your research may require combining church HISTORY with GENEALOGY.

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Glasgow: "ARCHDIOCESE OF GLASGOW (GLASGUENSIS) in the south-west of Scotland, comprising at the present day [written in 1910] the Counties of Lanark, Dumbarton, and Renfrew, part of Ayrshire north of Lugton Water, the district of Baldernock in Stirlingshire, and the Cumbrae Isles.

The see was founded between 540 and 560 by St. Kentigern, or Mungo, who died 13 Jan., 601. He also established on the Welsh model a religious community, which served as a much needed centre to preserve the Faith among the surrounding Christian population."

Archdiocesan Archives - Genealogy: "The archdiocesan archive holds, in the Curial Offices at 196 Clyde Street, Glasgow, G1 4JY, original registers with a starting-date prior to the introduction of civil registration in Scotland in 1855. Photocopies of these registers are also normally held in the parish to which they relate, and in the Scottish Record Office in Edinburgh (reference: RH21).

BAPTISMAL REGISTERS will normally provide the child's name, names of parents and sponsors(godparents), date of birth, date of baptism, and the name of the priest administering the Sacrament. They do not provide the address of the family at the time of baptism. Nor do they provide information on place of origin.

MARRIAGE REGISTERSwill normally provide the names of the bride and groom, the namesof the witness(es), and the name of the officiating priest. They will not provide the address at the time of marriage, nor do they normally provide information on place of birth. However, from 1808 till the mid-1830s the marriage registers for St.Andrew’s, Glasgow, do provide information regarding the place of origin of the bride and groom.

CONFIRMATION REGISTERS The survival of these registers is inconsistent. Confirmation Registers usually comprise a list of names of those confirmed, and the names of the sponsors. No personal and/or family information is given concerning those being confirmed. The practice of having individual sponsors is relatively modern. Previous practice had one female sponsor for all the girls, and one male sponsor for all the boys.

DEATHS REGISTERS It was, and is, not common practice for parishes to keep registers of deaths.

ARCHDIOCESE OF GLASGOW
ARCHIVES & HISTORY an excellent and informative website