Why you might need a certificate
Catholic certificates are needed for sacramental preparation: a child's First Holy Communion, Confirmation, marriage in a Catholic church, becoming a godparent, applying to a Catholic school, or being received into religious life. Civil purposes (passports, citizenship, family history research) usually need a civil certificate from the Register Office, not a Catholic one.
For sacramental preparation, certificates must usually have been issued within the last six months. An old certificate from the back of a drawer will not be accepted. Order a fresh one.
Step one: contact the parish of the sacrament
Catholic sacramental records are held in the parish where the sacrament was celebrated, not the parish where you live now. If you were baptised at St Werburgh's in Chester thirty years ago and now live in Telford, the Chester parish is the one to contact.
Find the parish on the Diocese of Shrewsbury website directory. Telephone or email the parish office, and have ready:
- Full baptismal name (the name on the day of the sacrament, not a later married name).
- Approximate date of the sacrament. Even the year is enough to start a search.
- Parents' names if known.
- Your reason for the request and the deadline by which you need the certificate.
A small donation to parish funds is normal practice. Most parishes turn certificates around within one to two weeks during term time.
Step two: closed parishes and older records
Sometimes a parish has closed or its records have been transferred. Sometimes the records you need are too old to be in active parish files. In both cases, the next stop is the Diocesan Archive, held at the Curial Offices.
Write to:
- Diocesan Archive, Curial Offices, 2 Park Road South, Prenton, Wirral CH43 4UX
- info@dioceseofshrewsbury.org
- 0151 652 9855
Give the same details as you would to a parish: name, approximate date, parents, and the parish where the sacrament was celebrated. The Archive holds registers of closed parishes and older volumes that are no longer kept locally.
Step three: marriage certificates
The way Catholic marriages are recorded in England changed on 4 May 2021. For weddings on or after that date, the civil record is held by the local Register Office, which issues civil marriage certificates on request. The parish keeps a sacramental record. If you are asking the parish for proof of a Catholic marriage celebrated since 4 May 2021, you are asking for the parish record. If you need a civil certificate, apply to the General Register Office or the local Register Office.
For weddings before 4 May 2021, the parish kept the green civil marriage register and issued civil marriage certificates directly. Older certificates can be requested from the parish, or from the Diocesan Archive if the parish has since closed.
Step four: certificates from outside the diocese
If the sacrament took place outside the Diocese of Shrewsbury, contact the parish or diocesan archive in that diocese. The Find a Parish directory at cbcew.org.uk lists every parish in England and Wales. For sacraments overseas, contact the parish abroad directly.
Family history requests
The Diocesan Archive will help with family history queries where it can, but priority goes to people preparing for the sacraments. Allow a longer turnaround for genealogical research, and offer a donation to support the work of the Archive.
What a Catholic certificate looks like
A Catholic baptismal certificate gives the baptismal name, date and place of Baptism, parents' names, godparents' names, and the priest who baptised. Confirmations and marriages received later are noted in the margin. This is why a recent reissue is needed for sacramental purposes: the marginal notes update over a person's life.
Practical checklist
- Identify the parish of the sacrament.
- Telephone or email the parish office with full details.
- Allow one to two weeks and offer a small donation.
- If the parish is closed or the record is older than active files, write to the Diocesan Archive.
- For sacramental preparation, check that the certificate is dated within the last six months.
Where to ask for help
If you do not know which parish celebrated the sacrament, the Curial Offices can help narrow it down. Email info@dioceseofshrewsbury.org with everything you do know: town, decade, family names. The Archive team will check what is held centrally and point you to the right parish if the record is held there.
