The Roman Catholic Church ...

Roman Catholicism denotes the faith and practice of Christians who are in communion with the pope. Catholics profess a continued tradition of faith and worship, and hold to the apostolic succession of bishops and priests since the time of Christ. The leader of the Church in Ireland is the Archbishop of Armagh, the Primate of All-Ireland, and is usually a cardinal. The number who profess themselves to be members of the Roman Catholic Church make up 88.8 per cent of the population of the Republic and 40.3 per cent of the population of N. Ireland. - Website


Catholic Ireland.Net

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Roman Catholic Church: Roman Catholic registers do not start until the 1820s. Indeed many start much later than this. The registers are almost entirely of baptisms and marriages and those on microfilm relate to churches both within Northern Ireland and most of those in Cos Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan but only up to 1880. Roman Catholic baptism records usually include the date of baptism, the child’s name, the father’s name in full, the mother’s maiden name, the name of any godparents and the residence of the parents. Although some death or funeral entries do occur, these generally only record the name of the deceased and the date of death. As some of the entries in these registers are written in Latin, a separate leaflet on Latin terminology used in Roman Catholic Church registers is available in the Self- Service Microfilm Reading Room. Permission to copy must be obtained from the individual church (PRONI ref MIC/1D/ and CR/2) Public Record Office of Northern Ireland Crown Copyright


Archivium Hibernicum

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In the 1830s Catholic parishes and records were re-organised and it’s possible to trace almost all Irish families back to this time.

  • Catholic registers of baptisms and marriages are held locally by the parish priest.
  • Only a minority of catholic parishes ever kept burial registers.
  • Most catholic parish registers are microfilmed up to 1880, and are available in the National Library of Ireland, Dublin City.
  • For a full list of parishes by diocese, see Roman Catholic Parish Registers
  • If you want to trace a church record after 1880, you will have to apply directly to the parish.
  • How to trace your Roots back to the 1830's or earlier. Fiona Fitzsimons. Eneclann Map Irish Ancestors

    Maps Catholic Parishes 1848

    Irish Catholic Church history, jurisdictions & available records - FamilySearch


Irish Dioceses

The Church has twenty-six dioceses and four provinces each under a metropolitan archbishop. There are 1,365 parishes, about 3,400 diocesan or secular priests and some 20,000 religious (orders of priests, brothers and nuns) in the island .

Roman Catholic

Diocese of Achonry

Diocese of Ardagh & Clonmacnois

Archdiocese of Armagh

Archdiocese of Cashel & Emly

Diocese of Clogher

Diocese of Clonfert

Diocese of Cloyne

Diocese of Cork and Ross

Diocese of Derry

Diocese of Down and Connor

Diocese of Dromore

Archdiocese of Dublin

Diocese of Elphin

Diocese of Ferns

Diocese of Galway KilmacduaghKilfenora

Diocese of Kerry

Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin

Diocese of Killala

Diocese of Killaloe

Diocese of Kilmore

Diocese of Limerick

Diocese of Meath

Diocese of Ossory

Diocese of Raphoe

Archdiocese of Tuam

Diocese of Waterford and Lismore

26 Dioceses - 4 Archdiocese and 22 Dioceses

Parts of Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo

Most of Longford & Leitrim & parts of Cavan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo & Westmeath

Louth, most of Armagh and parts of Tyrone, Derry and Meath

Most of Tipperary and parts of Limerick

Monaghan, Most of Fermanagh and parts of Tyrone, Donegal, Louth and Cavan

Parts of Counties Galway, Offaly and Roscommon

Most of County Cork

Cork city and parts of County Cork

Most Derry, some parishes in Tyrone & Antrim & the Inishowen peninsula in Co Donegal

Most of Antrim and Down and part of Derry

Parts of Antrim, Armagh and Down

City of Dublin, most of County Dublin, Wicklow, parts of Carlow, Kildare, Laois & Wexford

Parts of Roscommon, Sligo, Westmeath and Galway

Most of Wexford and parts of Wicklow

Parts of Mayo, Galway and Clare

Most of Kerry and parts of Cork

Carlow, parts of Kidare, Laois, Offaly, Kilkenny, Wickow and Wexford

Parts of Mayo and Sligo

Parts of Clare, Laois, Limerick, Offaly and Tipperary

Most of Cavan, parts of Leitrim, Fermanagh, Meath and Sligo

Most of Limerick, parts of Clare and Kerry

Most of Meath, Westmeath and Offaly, and parts of Longford, Louth, Dublin and Cavan

Most of Kilkenny and parts of Laois and Offaly

Most of Donegal

Parts of Mayo, Galway and Roscommon

Waterford and parts of Tipperary and Cork

Catholic parish registers

Published in Features, Issue 2 (March/April 2015), Volume 23