Louis Cheikho
Louis Cheikho, , born Rizqallâh Cheikho (1859–1927) 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. Biography. Louis Cheikho was born in Mardin, Turkey on February 5th, 1859. 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. 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 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 Cheikho is perhaps the founder of modern publications of unpublished Eastern Christian texts, especially Christian Arabic texts.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". His work was an inspiration for CEDRAC.