Great news for genealogists and historians who can’t get to Ireland: the National Library of Ireland is digitizing all Catholic Church records in Ireland. They will be available by summer 2015, for free.

“The records are considered the single most important source of information on Irish family history prior to the 1901 Census.  Dating from the 1740s to the 1880s, they cover 1,091 parishes throughout Ireland, and consist primarily of baptismal and marriage records,” NLI said in a statement.

The National Diaspora Programme, Ireland Reaching Out (Ireland XO), has welcomed making the resources available online without charge, IrishCentral reported. Another article in Crux was brought to my attention by the lovely Angie Drobnic Holan.