Reading The Catholic Parish Records
Of The Villages of Trentino
The following microfilmed record of my great-grandfather's birth (third from the top) is used as an example of what information is available through the Catholic church records kept in the various villages throughout Trentino. The actual microfilmed records are available for review through a number of LDS Family History Centers throughout the United States.
The first step is to locate the microfilm number for the parish you are researching. In the case of this example, the LDS microfilm number for the village of Cloz is 1388654. Then the appropraite sections of the microfilm must be isolated. In this case, the records for the Cloz church are items 12 through 28 on the microfilm. Microfilm numbers may be obatined and ordered for review through the LDS Family History Centers.
Generally, records retained on printed forms such as the one above are uniform from parish to parish. Earlier hand written records were narative in nature and therefore varied considerable from record to record. Earlier records were recorded in Latin, while the later records (after 1816) were generally written in Italian.
Background: The ceiling of the Santa Maria Church in Cloz. (Copyright 2000 Allen E. Rizzi)