Marco Carvalho
Thirty-three parish register books belonging to the patrimonial collection of St. Lawrence’s Church were recently sent to Portugal. The documents are currently undergoing a meticulous process of restoration and conservation at the School of Arts of the Portuguese Catholic University, in Portugal’s second largest city, Porto.
A selection of 33 parish register books from the parochial archives of St. Lawrence’s Church have been dispatched to Portugal for expert conservation and restoration work. The volumes are now being carefully treated at the School of Arts of the Catholic University of Portugal (UCP) in Porto. The logbooks in question record baptisms, marriages and deaths dating from the 18th and 19th centuries. The initiative first came to public attention via social media updates shared by the School of Arts of the Catholic University of Portugal, where the hands-on work is taking place. The Parish priest of St. Lawrence’s, Father Cyril Law, verified the details and told “O Clarim” that the urgent need to halt ongoing deterioration and secure the long-term survival of the records explain the decision to ship the documents overseas. The parish records are essential to better understand the history of Catholicism in Macau: “My chief objective is, first, to rescue them from further deterioration, so that they can last long for the future”, Saint Lawrence’s parish priest told “O Clarim“.
The registers have been undergoing a meticulous recovery process in the Conservation and Restoration Centre at the School of Arts of the Catholic University of Portugal since late January. The ongoing intervention is being conducted within the framework of the Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Conservation and Restoration, under the technical and scientific supervision of Adriana Ferreira, a guest lecturer at the institution. Although precise details about the exact intervention date in each of the 33 books – or the expected timelines for completion of the project – have not been released, the volumes are expected to return to Macau once the procedures are finished. More than discussing deadlines, to ensure that the documents receive the most appropriate professional handling is of paramount importance. Father Cyril Law, who also serves as the Chancellor of the Catholic Diocese of Macau, emphasizes the idea that timelines are secondary to quality: “We are in no hurry for the books to return to Macau; most importantly is that they get treated professionally first. It should take as much time as it is needed”, Saint Lawrence’s parish priest says. “I have the interim reports as the conservation experts are assessing them stage by stage. Will have to wait for the final report”, the Hong Kong born priest adds.
Father Law firmly dismisses, nonetheless, any plans for public exhibitions upon the return of the books to Macau, noting the sensitive nature of the content: “ I am relying on future experts to give them a proper academic assessment (…) As these are all private personal records, they are “closed” records not meant for public display”, the parish priest recalls. As outlined by the School of Arts of the Catholic University of Portugal, the core purpose of the intervention is to safeguard both the physical condition and the informational value of the Saint Lawrence’s parochial archive. This will shield the materials from the inevitable effects of aging and ensure they remain a reliable historical resource for years ahead. These 33 volumes currently in Portugal form an invaluable primary source for gaining deeper insight into the Macanese community’s past. Spanning two full centuries, they document the religious, familial, and social fabric of life in one of Macau’s most longstanding parishes.
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