PARISH REGISTERS. — They are believed to have had a very ancient origin (they may be mentioned in Nov. 74, IV, 1–2 of Justinian).
In the Middle Ages there are very few references to parish registers; the Papiense, Rolandino, and the Ostiense speak of them almost in passing, and more as a practice limited to certain churches than as a common usage. Innocent IV and Panormitanus, too, speak of the libri ecclesiarum; but these books, kept almost exclusively for internal statistical purposes and intended, at least for the most part, for the registration of Marriages, possessed neither rule nor authority. The development of the times, however, brought about an urgent awareness of the need for public documents concerning citizens, and thus various synods issued particular regulations (Constantinople 1463, Augsburg 1548).
The Council of Trent deserves the credit for ordering this matter and for laying down the regulations concerning the books of Marriages (Tametsi) and of the baptized (Sess. XXIV, de ref. chap. 1).
In 1614 Paul V increased the number of parish registers to five (Rituale romano, tit. X, chap. 2, no. 7), as prescribed today by the CIC. Regulations were issued by Benedict XIV (encycl. Satis Vobis of 17 Nov. 1741 and apostolic constitution Firmandis of 6 Nov. 1744, in which four books are mentioned, excluding that of the dead) and by the Sacred Congregations. Through the provisions of the Council of Trent, the Rituale romano, and the various synods, parish registers also acquired great importance in the field of public law, so much so that they were regarded, besides being public ecclesiastical documents, as genuine civil-status registers, possessing probative force even in the secular forum. With the upheavals caused by the French Revolution, this prerogative disappeared, first with the creation of secular civil-status officials and then with the institution of civil marriage. The other States followed France’s example, and by the middle of the nineteenth century almost all had their own civil-status system. Ecclesiastical registers continued to function as public documents within the Church, and first through the decree Ne temere, and subsequently through the promulgation of the CIC, their legal effectiveness was further strengthened. The CIC speaks of parish registers in can. 470; their keeping is imposed upon the parish priest as one of his most serious duties; the Ordinary must punish, according to the degree of culpability, a parish priest who fails to fulfil this duty or is merely negligent (can. 2383). The books required by the CIC are the same as those mentioned by the Rituale romano, namely: the book of the baptized, of those confirmed, of the dead, of Marriages, and de statu animarum. Although its compilation is not imposed as rigorously as that of the others, the parish priest must attend to it insofar as possible. In the book of the baptized, beside each individual name there must be entered, in addition to Baptism, Confirmation and, where applicable, Marriage, the subdiaconate, and solemn profession.
As for the juridical value of parish registers, these, according to can. 1813 § 1, are public ecclesiastical documents and therefore possess full probative force also in the external forum. In the secular forum, the registers of the baptized and of Marriages possess probative force, especially in those States where canonical Marriage
FINIS.
(Int. Institute of Book Pathology) BOOK — Explicit of the Epistles of St Jerome, printed at Ferrara in 1497.
has civil effects. The other attestations issued by the parish priest are assigned a value deriving from confidence in the diligence with which they are compiled. Given this public function of the parish priest, who performs notarial functions, the importance of the accurate keeping of the parish registers is evident; an authenticated copy of them is brought to the Curia each year and preserved there, with the exception of the de statu animarum register.