Costa Rica, Catholic Church Records, 1595-2022
Catholic Church records created by parishes and dioceses in Costa Rica. These records include: baptisms, confirmations, marriages, pre-marriage investigations, marriage dispensations, deaths, and indexes. Some of these records have been indexed and are searchable as part of this collection. Additional indexed records will be published as they become available.
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Costa Rica, Catholic Church Records
What is in This Collection
This collection includes records from 1595 to 1992. Parish priests performed the baptisms, confirmations, marriages, deaths, burials, and other holy sacraments in their assigned parish or parishes. For a complete list of all the parishes included in this collection, see the Parishes of Costa Rica coverage table.
All the original parish records were kept in the parish archive; however, the older records were centralized in the archdiocesan archive, as it is done currently. Parish records cover 95 to 100% of a city’s population. This collection only includes the parish records that were centralized at the archdiocesan archive at the time of filming.
These parish records have been preserved relatively well. Some of the older registers may appear to have some physical damage; therefore some data may have been lost or may be very difficult to read, however, in general they are in good condition to extract genealogical information. The Catholic Church parish records are an excellent source for genealogical research in Costa Rica. These may also be the only records available before the implementation of the civil registration in 1887.
Additional records and/or images may be added to this collection in the future.
Reading These Records
These records are written in Spanish. For help reading them see:
FamilySearch Learning Center videos:
If you speak Spanish, the following free online lesson may be helpful to learn how to use the information in these records:
- Registros Civiles y Parroquiales – Spanish
To Browse This Collection
| You can browse through images in this collection using the waypoints on the Collection Browse Page for Costa Rica, Catholic Church Records, 1595-1992. |
What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records:
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Baptism
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Confirmation
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Marriage
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Death
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Collection Content
Sample Images
Click on images for a larger view.
1898 Baptism Record
1895 Confirmation Record
1872 Marriage Record
1871 Burial Record
| Tip: Often more genealogical information can be found in the margins of original records. For example in a birth record, you might find marriage or death information. |
Collection Details
Language
Spanish
Location of Original Records
Multiple Catholic Church Parishes
"Costa Rica, registros parroquiales y diocesanos, 1595-2022." Database with images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 2 August 2026. Parroquias de la Iglesia Católica, Costa Rica (Catholic Church parishes, Costa Rica).
