The book of deaths of the Armenian Catholic Parish of Stanisławów 1715-1739

The article analyses the book of deaths of the Catholic parish of the Armenian rite at Stanisławów (formerly in Poland now the Ukraine). The book was kept by Stepanos Stepanian Roška. He was a clergyman educated in Rome, who earlier had worked as a priest in Venice and from 1729 was the apostolic visitor for Transylvania, the author of linguistic, historical and theological works. The book gives information about the deceased (the date of death, the name of the deceased, the father’s name, the age at death, the cause of death, the place of burial, information about the person who administered the extreme unction), sometimes also broader genealogical and biographical data. An analysis of the book allows one to become acquainted with a social cross section of the Armenian community at Stanisławów, the phenomenon of interethnic marriage, the course of important events in the town (the epidemic of plague in 1719), enables a reconstruction of the architecture and decor of the local church, and brings with it new data to biographical writings on Polish Armenians. From amongst the most interesting entries it follows to mention that of Bedros Fortunati, a refugee from Turkey, who conducted in Europe a collection to buy back his relatives from captivity, and who was to die in Stanisławów. The book, written in Latin and Armenian, is an interesting source for the language and names of Polish Armenians, as it contains many words from various languages which have been transcribed by means of the Armenian alphabet.