Ecclesiastical Records

Pinar del Rio Province

About Pinar del Rio Churches

As of March 2023, we have the following 3 churches represented.

PLEASE NOTE: The files represented are NOT the complete holdings of these churches, only what we have been able to acquire.

We are very grateful to our members for their generosity and willingness to share their valuable documents with us!

IMPORTANT: Please contact, and credit, the CGC prior to using any part of this page by sending an email to secretary@cubangenclub.org

About Pinar del Rio Province

The Pinar del Río province is Cuba’s westernmost province. It is also a municipality and city. The province contains one of Cuba’s three main mountain ranges, the Cordillera de Guaniguanico, divided into the easterly Sierra del Rosario and the westerly Sierra de los Órganos. These form a landscape characterized by steep-sided limestone hills (called mogotes) and flat, fertile valleys. One such topographic feature, the Viñales Valley, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The city was founded by the Spanish as Nueva Filipinas (New Philippines) and was renamed Pinar del Río in 1774. The province was founded in 1879.

Cuban Church Records and Archives

A presentation on Cuban Church Records and Archives given by Fr. Juan Luis Sanchez on July 14, 2008 is offered here for dissemination with his permission.

A recording of this presentation is available for members on the Members Only-Videos Page

Alphabetical Index Supplement for the Provinces of Habana, Las Villas and Pinar del Rio, Cuba

Source: REVISTA (the quarterly publication of the Cuban Genealogical Society)

An alphabetical index of all the transcriptions from the various parishes of La Habana, Guanabacoa, Cienfuegos, Las Villas, and San Matias de Rio Blanco in Pinar del Rio that was published in REVISTA from 2000 to 2007. This index supplements the previous indices for the provinces of Habana and Las Villas that were published in 1995. In addition, it has the Province of Pinar del Rio, which did not have an index published previously. The first few pages explain how to read the entries in the index.

Index PDF

All of the REVISTA editions are available on CubaGenWeb.

Santa Teresa de Jesus Church in Mariel, Cuba

Mariel’s residents built an oratory and asked Bishop Espada for his blessing to fulfill their spiritual obligations. The oratory was assigned auxiliary of Guanajay by the same bishop in 1807 and was later erected as a parish when it was rebuilt in 1820. The marriage book began on May 1, 1800. The church is located at Calle 128 No. 7114 in Mariel.

Source: Apuntes para una Historia de Pinar del Rio, Wilfredo Denie Valdes; part of the collection Ediciones Convivencia, www.convivenciacuba.es, 2012

The following documents were donated by Martha Ibañez Zervoudakis from her collection.

Baptisms

Marriages

Burials

Baptisms

Marriages

Burials

Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria Church in Candelaria, Cuba

The first hermitage of Candelaria was built in 1811 and rebuilt in 1826 coinciding with the visit of Bishop Espada who promoted it to auxiliary of the parish of San Cristóbal. In 1854 Bishop Fleix y Solans declared it a parish. The church is located at Ave. 33 No. 3801. e/ 38 y 40. Candelaria, Artemisa.

Source: Apuntes para una Historia de Pinar del Rio, Wilfredo Denie Valdes; part of the collection Ediciones Convivencia, www.convivenciacuba.es, 2012

The following documents were donated by Sonia Jones (born Hernandez Gonzalez) from her collection.

Baptisms

San Diego de Alcalá Church in San Diego de los Baños, Cuba

In newspapers of the time, they reported a celebration in 1773 of a mass in the new hermitage of San Diego de los Baños. At the end of 1855, the residents of the place began the construction of a new temple, completed in 1858, the year in which it was erected as a parish by Bishop Fleix y Solans. The church is located at Calle 25 s/n. San Diego de los Baños. Pinar del Río.

Source: Apuntes para una Historia de Pinar del Rio, Wilfredo Denie Valdes; part of the collection Ediciones Convivencia, www.convivenciacuba.es, 2012

The following documents were donated by Sonia Jones (born Hernandez Gonzalez) from her personal files.

Baptisms