Media: BOOK - paperback, 224 pages
Author: S. Raymond
Year: 2018
ISBN: 9781526716682
Other:  b&w photos, bibliog, indexes
Publisher: Pen & Sword

'Tracing Your Roman Catholic Ancestors' is the ideal handbook for readers and researchers who are keen to find out about their Roman Catholic ancestors and for anyone who wants an introduction to Roman Catholic history in general. Stuart Raymond provides a brief historical account covering the Roman Catholics from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries, then goes on to identify the available sources, explaining their strengths and weaknesses. His accessible and authoritative book will be an essential source of insight and reference for anyone who is starting to explore this fascinating subject.

The Catholic church's structure is described, as are the various repositories where relevant archives and books can be found. Chapters are devoted to specific sources and what they can reveal about the church and those who were members of it. Much information concerning Catholicism is to be found in the records of repression. The records of Quarter Sessions and the Anglican ecclesiastical courts, together with central government sources, tell us much about our Roman Catholic ancestors, and are fully described. So are the records of Roman Catholic baptisms, marriages and burials. Other Roman Catholic records, such as confirmation lists, are also covered, as are records relating to Roman Catholic clergy and religious orders.

Stuart Raymond's handbook opens up the history of the Roman Catholic Church for researchers who want to gain an understanding of the religious lives of their ancestors and for those who have a wider interest in the history of religion.

Contents:
Acknowledgments
Introduction and Abbreviations
1. Post-Reformation Roman Catholicism, 1558-1850
2. The Structure of the Roman Catholic Church
3. Preliminaries to Research
4. Roman Catholics under Penalty and After Emancipation: Governmental Records
5. Births, Marriages and Deaths
6. Roman Catholic Charities and Societies
7. Schools, Colleges and Seminaries
8. The Catholic Clergy
9. Religious Orders
10. Other Catholic Sources: Mission, Parish, and Diocese
11. Miscellaneous Sources
Notes
Subject Index
Personal Name Index