Louis Cheikho

Louis Cheikho
Born (1859-02-05)February 5, 1859
Mardin, Ottoman Empire
Died December 7, 1927(1927-12-07) (aged 68)
Beirut, Lebanon
Occupation Jesuit, Historian and Arabist

Louis Cheikho, Arabic: لويس شيخو, born Rizqallâh Cheikho (1859–1927) was a Jesuit chaldean priest, Orientalist and Theologian. He is considered as a major contributor and pioneer of the rediscovery of the Eastern Christian heritage.

Biography

Louis Cheikho was born in Mardin, Turkey on February 5, 1859.[1] His father was an ethnic Assyrian of the Chaldean Catholic tradition whose 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.

Early life

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 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 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 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Cheikho is perhaps the founder of modern publications of unpublished Eastern Christian texts, especially Christian Arabic texts.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.

His work was an inspiration for CEDRAC.

Works

Bibliography

Notes

External links

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