REQUEST A SACRAMENTAL CERTIFICATE FOR A DECEASED FAMILY MEMBER

If you request a sacramental certificate of a deceased family member, you will need to provide documents proving that you are a descendent of that person. The Chancery has very limited staff to handle these requests; therefore, a fee of $50 for every started hour of work by our employees applies for an inquiry of a sacramental record of a deceased person. Please be as precise as possible to limit the time needed for research: try to provide an exact name and date. The initial fee of $50 is required to start the research. If the research process and preparing the sacramental certificate takes more than an hour or requires multiple searches of the registers, a fee of $50 for each started hour will apply. There is no guarantee the record will be found, but regardless of the outcome, a fee still applies for the time spent researching your request. If a record is found, you will receive a sacramental certificate after you have paid the entire fee covering every started hour of work by our employees. No photocopy/scan of the original register will be provided, only a certificate. Please note that sacramental registers sometimes include additional information of a sensitive nature concerning someone’s status in the Church, and therefore, a photocopy cannot be disclosed. The Chancery retains the right to refuse research for the sacramental record if the information you provided is not precise enough, or it would take too long to search the register.

A certificate of the sacramental record is validated according to the Canon Law and is valid for the Church purposes. If you need a document notarized by a notary public for civil purposes, you will need to make arrangements for a notary public to come to the Chancery and cover all the related costs yourself.

Reminder: A sacramental certificate will be issued to you for free if you received the sacrament yourself.