The El Poble Nou de Benitatxell Town Council has completed the digitalisation of the 'Quinque Libri' of the Santa María Magdalena parish, a set of five sacramental books that record baptisms, deaths, marriages and Easter celebrations, as well as the church's financial accounts. These documents are among the few that were saved from destruction during the Civil War and until now were kept in the parish archive in manuscript format.
A story of restoration and conservation
The parish books were already subject to restoration and microfilming in 1998 due to their deteriorated state. That work, carried out at the Restoration Centre of the Archive of the Kingdom of Valencia, was carried out at the initiative of the researcher Miquel Almenara, who had the collaboration of the City Council and the authorisation of the parish priest at the time, D. Joan Ortolà. The company Microfilmaciones Codoñer of Valencia was responsible for carrying out the microfilming on five rolls, with a total of 2.100 double frames, of which one copy remained in the hands of the Council.
However, technological advances and the lack of a suitable reading device led the City Council to decide to digitise the microfilmed volumes. To do so, with the advice of the researcher Miquel Almenara, the professional photographer Xavier Mollà i Revert was hired, who has been in charge of carrying out the work. Recently, Mollà has handed over the digitised material to the City Council, which hopes to make it available to the public in the Municipal Library soon.
The historical value of the 'Quinque Libri'
Parish books began to be recorded in churches after the Council of Trent in 1563 and were made official in the territories of the Spanish monarchy in 1564 by Royal Decree. In the case of El Poble Nou de Benitatxell, when it was established as a town in 1698, it depended on the parish of Xàbia, where these records were located. It was not until 1768 when the 'Quinque Libri' were established in the church of Benitatxell.
It is worth noting that compulsory civil registration was not implemented in Spain until 1870, so these books constitute a key source of information on local history.
"The heritage of El Poble Nou de Benitatxell is enriched by the digitalisation of the 'Quinque Libri Sacramentales', an invaluable source of information about all the people who have passed through our town," said the Councillor for Heritage, Víctor Bisquert, who thanked Miquel Almenara for his collaboration in this important documentary recovery project.
