Louis Cheikhô
| Louis Cheikho | |
|---|---|
,_j%C3%A9suite_chald%C3%A9en.jpg) |
|
| Born |
February 5, 1859 Mardin, Ottoman Empire |
| Died | December 7, 1927 (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.
Louis Cheikho was born in Mardin, Turkey on February 5, 1859. His father was an ethnic Assyrian, and a member of the Chaldean Catholic Church, 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.
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.
...
Wikipedia