Loading AI tools
Assyrian-Armenian Chaldean Catholic priest (1859–1927) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Louis Cheikho (Arabic: لويس شيخو, née Rizqallâh Cheikho; born February 5, 1859 – December 7, 1927) was a Jesuit Chaldean Catholic priest, Orientalist and Theologian. He pioneered Eastern Christian and Assyrian Chaldean literary research and made major contributions to the publication of manuscript texts.
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2013) |
Louis Cheikho was born in Mardin, Turkey on February 5, 1859.[1] His father was an ethnic Assyrian, and a member of the Chaldean Catholic Church, whose Assyrian family had been based at Mardin for at least three centuries. His mother was an Armenian named Elizabeth Schamsé, who took him on pilgrimage to the Holy Land when he was 9-years old.
In 1868, Cheikhô joined his brother at the Maronite Jesuit Seminary in Ghazîr, Lebanon. At this date, the seminary was not merely preparing young men for the priesthood, but also acted as a secondary college for young Christian and especially Assyrian Chaldean men. Both groups followed a similar syllabus. There, he learned both ancient and modern European and Semitic languages.
In 1874, he entered the Jesuit Order and started his novitiate training at Lons-le-Saunier, France. He adopted at that time the name of 'Louis' out of devotion for the young Jesuit saint Louis Gonzaga.
In 1878, he returned to Lebanon and taught Arabic Literature at the Jesuit Saint Joseph College in Beirut for 10 years. During this period, Cheikho continued his studies of philosophy at Université Saint-Joseph, Beirut.
In 1888, Cheikho travelled to Great Britain for theological studies in preparation for the priesthood. He was ordained priest by the Chaldean Church of the East on 8 September 1891. He then spent one year in Austria and another year in Paris. Those extended European stays allowed him to acquire the academic methodologies that helped him in his later works.
Finally in 1894, he settled in Beirut, Lebanon, where he continued his academic career at Université Saint-Joseph.
Cheikho died in Beirut, Lebanon in 1927.
Cheikho is perhaps the founder of modern publications of unpublished Eastern Christian texts, especially Christian Arabic texts. He also founded, in 1898, the journal Al-Machriq, and contributed many articles and publications to its pages. In addition to Al Machriq Cheikho also edited another Jesuit publication, Al Bashir.[2]
His work was an inspiration for CEDRAC.
Famous Turkish poet Mehmet Akif Ersoy said that his work "Majani al-Adab" can be used in teaching Arabic.
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
,_jésuite_chaldéen.jpg)
