Louis Cheikho (,

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Rizqallâh Cheikho; born February 5, 1859 – December 7, 1927) was a

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

Chaldean Catholic The Chaldean Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic particular church ('' sui iuris'') in full communion with the Holy See and the rest of the Catholic Church, and is headed by the Chaldean Patriarchate. Employing in its liturgy the East Syri ...

priest, Orientalist and

Theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

. He pioneered

Eastern Christian Eastern Christianity comprises Christianity, Christian traditions and Christian denomination, church families that originally developed during Classical antiquity, classical and late antiquity in the Eastern Mediterranean region or locations fu ...

and Assyrian Chaldean literary research and made major contributions to the publication of manuscript texts.

Biography

Louis Cheikho was born in

Mardin Mardin (; ; romanized: ''Mārdīn''; ; ) is a city and seat of the Artuklu District of Mardin Province in Turkey. It is known for the Artuqids, Artuqid architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location on a rocky hill near the Tigris ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

on February 5, 1859. His father was an ethnic Assyrian, and a member of the

Chaldean Catholic Church The Chaldean Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Catholic Catholic particular churches and liturgical rites, particular church (''sui iuris'') in full communion with the Holy See and the rest of the Catholic Church, and is ...

, whose Assyrian family had been based at Mardin for at least three centuries. His mother was an

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

named Elizabeth Schamsé, who took him on

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

to the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

when he was 9-years old.

Early life

In 1868, Cheikhô joined his brother at the

Maronite Maronites (; ) are a Syriac Christianity, Syriac Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant (particularly Lebanon) whose members belong to the Maronite Church. The largest concentration has traditionally re ...

Jesuit Seminary in Ghazîr,

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. At this date, the

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

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 The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 by ...

and started his

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

training at

Lons-le-Saunier Lons-le-Saunier () is a commune and capital of the Jura Department, eastern France. Geography The town is in the heart of the Revermont region, at the foot of the first plateau of the Jura massif. The Jura escarpment extends to the east a ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. He adopted at that time the name of 'Louis' out of devotion for the young Jesuit saint Louis Gonzaga. In 1878, he returned to

and taught

Arabic Literature Arabic literature ( / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is ''Adab (Islam), Adab'', which comes from a meaning of etiquett ...

at the

Saint Joseph College in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

for 10 years. During this period, Cheikho continued his studies of

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

Université Saint-Joseph Saint Joseph University of Beirut (; French: ''Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth'', commonly known as USJ) is a private Catholic research university in Beirut, Lebanon, founded in 1875 by French Jesuit missionaries and subsidized by the Go ...

. In 1888, Cheikho travelled to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

for

theological Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of an ...

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 Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and another year in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. 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

texts, especially Christian

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

texts. He also founded, in 1898, the journal ''

Al-Machriq ''Al-Machriq'' ( 'The East') was a journal founded in 1898 by the Jesuit and Chaldean Catholic priest Louis Cheikho, and published by Jesuit fathers of Saint Joseph University in Beirut (modern-day Lebanon). The subtitle was ''Revue Catholiq ...

'', and contributed many articles and publications to its pages. In addition to ''Al Machriq'' Cheikho also edited another Jesuit publication, '' Al-Bashir''. His work was an inspiration for CEDRAC. Famous Turkish poet

Mehmet Akif Ersoy Mehmet Akif Ersoy (20 December 1873 – 27 December 1936) was a Turkish poet, writer, academic, politician, and the author of the Turkish National Anthem. Widely regarded as one of the premiere literary minds of his time, Ersoy is noted for h ...

said that his work "Majani al-Adab" can be used in teaching Arabic.

Works

*''Les poètes arabes chrétiens. Poètes antéislamiques. Qouss, évêque de Najran'', dans ''Études religieuses...'', 1888, pp. 592–611. *''Le Christianisme et la littérature chrétienne en Arabie avant l'Islam'', (3 vol.), Beirut, 1913, 1919, 1923. *''La Nation maronite et la Compagnie de Jésus aux XVI et XVII siècles'', Beirut, 1923. (Translated into French by Y. Moubarac, Beirut, 1984). *(in Arabic) ''Les vizirs et secrétaires arabes chrétiens en Islam (622-1517)'', (text established and annotated by Camille Hechaïmé), Beirut, 1987. *''Les Saints particulièrement honorés des Libanais'', Beirut, 1914 (translated into French by Y. Moubarac) *(in Arabic) ''Les savants arabes chrétiens en Islam (622-1300)'', (ed. by C. Héchaïmé), Jounieh, 1983. * ''Anciens traités arabes contenant La politique de Themistius, l'économie domestique de Probus (?), les récits amusants de Barhebraeus et l'exclusion de la tristesse, attribué à Platon'' (publiés par Louis Cheikho), Impr. catholique, Beirut, 1920–23, 68p. *(in Arabic) ''Vingt traités théologiques d'auteurs arabes chrétiens, IXe-XIIIe siècle'', (publiés par le P. Louis Cheikho avec le concours des P.P. Louis Malouf et Constantin Bacha), deuxième édition augmentée, Imprimerie Catholique, Beirut, 1920, 148p. * (in Arabic) La littérature arabe au XIX siècle. 1ère partie: de 1800 à 1870. Beirut: Imprimérie Catholique, 1908. 134p; 2ième partie: de 1870 a 1900. Beirut: Imprimérie Catholique, 1910. 206p.

Bibliography

Henri Lammens Henri Lammens (1 July 1862 – 23 April 1937) was a Belgian Orientalist historian and Jesuit, who wrote (in French) on the early history of Islam. Education and career as a Jesuit Born in Ghent, Belgium of Catholic Flemish stock, Henri Lammens ...

: ''Le P. Louis Cheikho'', Lyon, 1929. *Camille Hechaïmé: ''Louis Cheikho et son livre ‘le christianisme et la littérature chrétienne en Arabie avant l’Islam, Dar el-Machreq, Beyrouth, 1967. *R.B. Campbell: ''The Arabic Journal `al-Machriq'... under the editorship of Père L. Cheikho'', University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1972.

Notes

External links

CEDRAC article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheikho, Louis 1859 births 1927 deaths Chaldean Catholics Academic staff of Saint Joseph University Lebanese Jesuits Lebanese people of Armenian descent Lebanese orientalists 19th-century writers from the Ottoman Empire People from the Ottoman Empire of Armenian descent People from Mardin Lebanese magazine founders