How to Find Church Records on
Matricula Online

Find church records on Matricula Online tutorial video

What is Matricula Online?

Matricula Online is a valuable online resource of digitalised church records from Austria and Slovenia (also Germany, Poland, Serbia, Luxemburg, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Italy).

The records on Matricula Online aren’t indexed or searchable, however, some church registers do contain original handwritten indexes.

Our Matricula tips:

  1. Use the alphabetical Index Register first (if there is one) but don’t rely on it.

  2. Always note down both the Matricula page number (Seite) and the page number from the actual register. Your future self will thank you.

  3. Save a link to individual records for quick reference, sharing and as a backup.

  4. Searching page-by-page is a surprisingly effective method!

    For more helpful Matricula tips, go to our blog post Tips for Using Matricula Online.

When do church records become available to the public?

Data Protection Laws - Austria
Birth and baptism registers: 100 years
Marriage registers: 75 years
Death registers: 30 years

A note about Austrian church records: All Austrian baptism, marriage and death registers have been digitised up until the year 1938, coinciding with the start of civil records. The records that can be seen on Matricula Online, are older than 100/75/30 years (as per the data protection laws above). At the start of each calendar year, another year of records is ‘unlocked’. For example in January 2024, baptism records for the year 1923 became open to the public. Also know that 100 years means 100 years - to the day.

Data Protection Laws - Slovenia
Birth and baptism registers: 100 years
Marriage registers: 100 years
Death registers: 100 years

Have a record that you can’t decipher?

Before you watch the Matricula tutorial:

In the video, Bernie finds the catholic marriage record for a fictional ancestor. He’s looking for the record of Johann Baumann:

Name: Johann Baumann
Fond: Austria
Archdiocese: Graz-Seckau
Parish: Bad Radkersburg
Year: 1920
Record Type: Marriage

** Turn on CC (closed captions) and follow along.

Steps to finding a record on Matricula Online:

  1. Go to data.matricula-online.eu.

  2. Change the site navigation language, if needed, in the top right corner.

  3. Select Fonds.

  4. Select a Country.

  5. Select the Archdiocese or Diocese.

  6. Select the Parish.

  7. Select record type (birth, marriage, death).

  8. Select year range.


Are you struggling with Matricula?

What is that old German handwriting?

The church records were written in German Kurrentschrift, Latin, Slovene or a combination! To get started deciphering, download a free PDF of the old German alphabet here. Alternatively, if you’d like a church record translated, go to our translation services page: