Understanding Key Religious Documents and Their Significance

Baptismal Certificate

A document that ascribes the baptized to the Catholic Church.

Parish Records

• Parish census
• Parish register of baptisms
• Weddings
• Communions
• Confirmations
• Deaths

Apocryphal Sources

Information from unauthorized church books.

Marriage Certificate

A certificate where the marriage is registered in the church.

Act of Synod

A document from a bishop's assembly to priests, seeking together a way to live and proclaim the Gospel more strongly in mission and witness.

Minutes of Council

A document from an assembly of bishops gathered to discuss matters of ecclesiastical or religious contention.

Liturgical Regulations

A document that explains the rituals of solemn ceremonies or events that are not religious.

Encyclical

A circular letter sent to all churches in an area in the old Christian church.

Pastoral Letter

A letter from a prelate addressing his congregation.

Biblical Text

A written expression of the divine message.

Religious Art

• Religious Painting: Themed performances of sacred texts, especially within the three monotheistic religions.
• Religious Sculpture: Representations of sacred texts, especially within the three monotheistic religions.

Religious Buildings

Key pieces include written testimony about the time and the characters:

• Letters (cartas)
• Oral testimony from survivors of the era reflecting the testimony of events.
• Visuals: paintings, archaeological findings, buildings.

The objective and systematic analysis of all these elements allows the historian to develop a hypothesis based on the object of their study. Imagine the past to try to revive it in some way. The historian explains something in the present, living apart from what they have learned about what happened in the past.

What Historians Do

• Formulate hypotheses.
• Process sources based on a theory and the degree of reliability.
• Situate and order events in time for historical accuracy.
• Consider the point of view, feelings, and images of the time (empathy).
• Sort events by type, using appropriate vocabulary.
• Communicate facts, explaining the process followed and the cause-effect relationship.

(They try to explain the past to help others understand it.)