Italian State of the Souls Records

Every country-specific certificate program at The National Institute for Genealogical Studies includes courses for Religious Records.

Continuing to research our ancestors and their family members through religious records, we will often discover unique types of records created within the church records for that region or country. Becoming familiar with these records will make it easier to understand the information we discover within them.

The course Italian: Catholic Church Records-Part 2, begins with the State of the Souls Records and what they cover in Parish records. Let’s explore these Italian church records.

State of the Souls Records in Genealogy

State of the Souls records can be tremendously helpful in extending a family’s ancestry in those areas of Italy that did not keep civil registration between the years 1816-1865, and in the centuries prior to civil registration. What information they recorded varied depending on the time period, education level or age of the priest, and the location in which it was recorded.

The records may be written in the Latin, Italian, and French languages, or in combination with regional dialects. However, they were predominantly written in Italian and Latin. Some records contained two or more languages/dialects within the same register or even on the same record. One such set of parish records had French, Latin, and Italian all mixed together in nearly every record. This made for a confusing translation process.

The status animarum were created during annual pastoral visits to each household. In large cities or when the priest was elderly, one entry may have been made that he then updated each Easter over a series of years. Occupations, titles, and tax notations can provide evidence of an ancestor’s social status within the community.

The status animarum were progressive records, meaning that they were not created at one time, but rather, over a series of years. Additionally, multiple priests could have made entries to a single status animarum record. This can create multiple chances for transcription error. Age, attention to detail, the size of the parish, and a variety of other factors can play a part in the accuracy of the information in these records. Despite this, these documents are thought to hold strong evidence on an Italian family.

We will show examples of these valuable records in a future blog post. See the blog post here.

Are you researching your Italian Catholic ancestors? Learn more about researching your Italian ancestors in the course Italian: Catholic Church Records-Part 2 through their records. Check the Course Calendar for the next time this course will be offered.

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Diocese and Archdiocese in Italian Records

Every country-specific certificate program at The National Institute for Genealogical Studies includes courses for Religious Records.

As we research our ancestors and their family members, we will undoubtedly be faced with the challenge of locating their religious records within the communities where they spent their lives. In small rural areas, it may be easy as we locate the only village parish. However, it is not always as simple as we may think.

As we continue in the course Italian: Catholic Church Records-Part 1, our next task will be to Understand Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions & Archives and how to access the Parish records in local archives. Let’s dig a little deeper.

Diocese & Archdiocese

Diocese, spelled the same in Italian and English, is a group of parishes within a particular ecclesiastical district. Each diocese has a diocesan archive, usually named Archivio Diocesano or Archivio Storico Diocesano.

An archdiocese is a group of dioceses within a particular region (regione ecclesiastica). Some larger cities may contain the seat of the archdiocese as well as one of the dioceses within their jurisdiction. In these cases, the main offices are usually combined and the Archivio Diocesano located in the same building. These archives are usually quite organized, but their hours of operation are few. Often there is only one archivist who is also a priest with all the duties that come with that position.

Many diocesan archives will have their own websites containing contact information, hours, and descriptions about their collection. Research in the diocese archive is usually by appointment only so please be sure to write ahead for permission several weeks in advance before leaving for Italy on a research trip. Additionally, you should verify that they have the type of records you seek. An archive’s contents, what records have survived, and the procedure to access the records can vary widely. It is advisable to leave at least 50 euros as a donation after being allowed to access these records.

Some diocesan archives have the parish records for all the parishes within their jurisdiction prior to 1900. Other dioceses have records conserved in each individual parish.

The types of records usually found in a diocesan archive may include:

Marriage supplements (which may contain a dispensation)
Baptismal and Marriage records after 1900 (second copy)
Records of Closed Parishes
Service Records for Priests and Nuns
The State of the Souls Records (stato delle anime)

These records will be invaluable to your Italian research.

Are you researching your Italian Catholic ancestors? Our course Italian: Catholic Church Records-Part 1 can help you to discover part of their stories through the records they left behind. Check the Course Calendar for the next time this course will be offered.

Contact information:
1 (800) 580-0165
Email: admin@GenealogicalStudies.com
Website: www.GenealogicalStudies.com
Blog: blog.GenealogicalStudies.com

LEADERS IN ONLINE GENEALOGY EDUCATION

Understanding Latin in Italian Records

Every country-specific certificate program at The National Institute for Genealogical Studies includes courses for Religious Records. In many cases, the religious beliefs of our ancestors became a vital part of their family story. We explore the records of baptisms, marriages and burials, along with other religious ceremonies relating to their beliefs and customs, to discover information not found in the civil records.

In the course Italian: Catholic Church Records-Part 1, we will examine these records, but one of the first challenges may be language. A useful resource is the Italian Genealogical Word List for translating Italian to English. However, Latin may be a bigger challenge. Here are some tips.

A Lesson in Latin: Understanding the Italian Records

Latin is an inflected language in which all verbs are conjugated, and all the nouns and adjectives use different cases. This means that words have different endings according to the function they play in a sentence, so it really does not matter in what order the words in a sentence are presented. This is different than the English language.

Names and words can be seen in the normative, genitive, ablative, and accusative forms. These are defined as:

“Nominative (nominativus): Subject of the sentence.
Genitive (genitivus): Generally translated by the English possessive, or by the objective with the preposition of.
Accusative (accusativus): Direct object of the verb and object with many prepositions.
Ablative (ablativus): Used to show means, manner, place, and other circumstances. Usually translated by the objective with the prepositions “from, by, with, in, at.””[1]

Some examples include:

Nominative	Genitive (of)	ex + Ablative (from)	Accusative	Italian
Antoni-us	Antoni-i	ex Antoni-o	Antoni-um	Antonio
Joseph-us	Joseph-i	ex Joseph-o	Joseph-um	Giuseppe
Anna-a	Ann-ae	ex Ann-a	Ann-am	Anna
Joann-es	Joann-is	ex Joan-e	Joann-em	Giovanni

Recurrent words have different endings:

Nominative	Genitive	Accusative	English
Fili-us	Fili-i	Fili-um	Son
Fili-a	Fili-ae	Fili-am	Daughter
Infans	Infant-is	Infant-em	Infant

Months are often abbreviated:

English	Latin	Abbreviation(s)
September	septembris	7ber, 7bris, VIIber, VIIbris
October	octobris	8ber, 8bris, VIIIber, VIIIbris
November	Novembris	9ber, 9bris, IXber, IXbris
December	Decembris	10ber, 10bris, Xber, Xbris

[1] “The 6 Cases of Latin Nouns,” ThoughtCo. (https://www.thoughtco.com/cases-of-latin-nouns-117588 : accessed 16 September 2019).

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1 (800) 580-0165
Email: admin@GenealogicalStudies.com
Website: www.GenealogicalStudies.com
Blog: blog.GenealogicalStudies.com

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New Year ~ New Goals

Happy New Year 2021! The holiday celebrations are coming to a close and most schedules are returning to a more regular routine. Hopefully, you were able to complete your 2020 projects. Perhaps you were fortunate enough to have opportunity to interview family members, or break through one of your break walls in 2020. Don’t forget to record any family stories you were able to discover over this holiday season, as well as recording your own 2020 memories. It certainly was a year to remember!

Now it is time to get ready for new genealogical opportunities for 2021! What will you discover? Instead of making “New Year’s Resolutions” that may or may not be attainable, make Realistic Genealogical Goals that will benefit your research, both in the short term, and with long lasting rewards. To begin, what do you want to accomplish? Make a plan! Do you need to get your files and documents organized? Implement a system that works for you. Have you lost where you left off in your research? Review the notes for your findings and make a proper research plan. Forgot where you found that information? Be sure to cite your sources! Review your work and make sure you will be able to find that source again. At a time when many repositories are closed to in-person visits, work on what you can achieve at home. Make a list of what has been left undone and needs follow-up. Then set your goals for how you will complete each research project. You have a brand-new open calendar before you, plan your time wisely.

Do you have education goals for 2021? Make a list of topics you want to pursue. How can you accomplish this goal? Is there a new book to read on the topic? Are there webinars to watch? Does the topic require more in-depth study? Is online education on your list of goals for 2021?

The National Institute for Genealogical Studies offers quality online education with over 230+ courses to choose from. Some of our courses are topic/country-specific, or provide insight into research methodology, while others are skill-building courses to maximize your research time. The first Monday of a new month means another rotation of courses will start on January 4th. You can still join the class until this Friday. Most courses feature 6 modules over an 8-week period, easily adapted to most busy schedules. Many courses have been bundled into packages to provide discount options. Take a look and see which courses will accomplish your 2021 education goals and register today!

Contact information:
1 (800) 580-0165
Email: admin@GenealogicalStudies.com
Website: www.GenealogicalStudies.com
Blog: blog.GenealogicalStudies.com

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Grandmothers, Mothers, and Daughters

Our female ancestors played significant roles in history. Yet, researching and writing about the women in our families can be a daunting task. If you have hit a brick wall in the quest to find information about your female ancestors, consider registering for our Research: Grandmothers, Mothers & Daughters – Tracing Women course, which is just one of the online genealogy courses from International Institute of Genealogical Studies.

This course is designed to guide you through the process of researching your family’s history by covering strategies and key sources you will need to access in order to overcome common challenges when tracing female ancestors. It will show you how to document “her” story and reveal the often-hidden aspects of their lives.

The untold journey of our Grandmothers, Mothers & Daughters needs to be told and should not remain silenced any longer.

Check out course highlights in the following blog posts:
Part 1: Researching HER Story
Part 2: What’s in a Name?
Part 3: Digging Deeper into HER Story
Part 4: Timelines for the Ladies in our Tree

The Research: Grandmothers, Mothers & Daughters – Tracing Women course description can be found here.

Check the Course Calendar schedule below to find the next start date for this course and register today!

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Visit our website for a complete list of online courses offered by International Institute of Genealogical Studies. Check our Course Calendar here.
Follow us on Social Media: Blog, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest.
*Note: Please be aware our social media accounts are monitored regularly, but NOT 24/7. If you have any questions, please contact the office directly.

Contact information:
1 (800) 580-0165
Email: admin@GenealogicalStudies.com
Website: www.GenealogicalStudies.com
Blog: blog.GenealogicalStudies.com

LEADERS IN ONLINE GENEALOGY EDUCATION