Registers of births, marriages and deaths in the Pazin region until 1945 (1949)

Abstract

In this paper, the Author explains, in the first place, the importance of registers of births, marriages and deaths, outlining their historical development. Intending to evaluate the data from the Pazin region, he than proceeds to explain what is normally meant by it: he chooses to cover the territory of the ex Commune of Pazin, today the Town of Pazin with its new Communes. These registers belong, in the ecclesiastical organization, to five different deaneries: Buzet, Kršan, Motovun, Pazin and Pićan. They were written by parish priests and other authorized persons in 28 parishes and four autonomous curacies. The registers of births and marriages of Pazin, and the register of birth of Motovun are the oldest such documents. The A has listed the parishes and curacies in alphabetical order, giving a survey of the extant registers of births, marriages and deaths. For every book, he gives - along with the Croatian title - also the original, Italian or Latin title. The books are written in Latin, Italian and Croatian language (in Glagolithic script). The place where the book is kept is mentioned. Registers from the aforesaid region are kept today in six different places: in parish offices in whole Istria, in curacies’ offices, in registrar’s offices, in the Historical Archive in Pazin, in the Archive of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Zagreb. As an illustration of the importance of registers, the A presents a few examples of entries in such books. By the way, the A explains that the parish priest often used the registers of births, marriages and deaths for various other entries, when he did not have ready other books, so that one can find notes on various events in the parish, or e.g. the lists of families with the addresses, lists of members of confraternities, etc.