### CALCONDILA. - I. DEMETRIO.
Greek humanist, grammarian, and philologist, born in Constantinople of an Athenian family in 1423 and died in Milan in 1511. From Athens, where he spent his youth, he went to Rome in 1447. Theodore Gaza was his protector and Latin teacher and introduced him to Cardinal Bessarion. C. taught Greek in Perugia from 1450 and took part in the controversies between Platonists and Aristotelians. He was called by Venice to teach Greek in Padua in 1463. Among his pupils there were Janus Lascaris, Varino Favorino Camerte, Antonio Campano, and Giovanni Lorenzì, later librarian to Innocent VIII, who preserved some of C.’s letters. In 1466 C. was engaged in transcribing and correcting the Planudean Anthology. After his Paduan appointment ended in 1472, he returned to Rome and, after hardships and difficulties, was recommended by Filelfo and in 1475 obtained the chair in Florence previously held by Argyropoulos. The most significant work of C. in this period was the princeps edition of Homer (1488); he also collaborated in revising Ficino’s Platonic translation. Among his pupils were Poliziano, the sons of Lorenzo de’ Medici, Peter and John (the future Pope), Bernardo Nerli, and Reuchlin, who preserved two of his letters. Called by Lodovico Sforza, in 1491 he moved to Milan, where among his pupils were Castiglione and Trissino.
In 1494 he published the *Erotémata*, a dialogic Greek grammar; in 1493 he edited the princeps edition of Isocrates, and in 1499 that of the *Suda*; a posthumous Latin version of Galen’s minor works also appeared. Like other humanists, he had both virtues and defects; in emending texts, “penetrating,” as Sandys puts it, “not free from arbitrariness.”
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Raffaello Prati
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### II. LAONICO.
Historian, kinsman of the foregoing, born in Athens c. 1430 to Giorgio C. and died after 1480. After the Turkish conquest of the Peloponnese (1461), C. took refuge in Crete, becoming a priest and protopapas of Chania, as well as teaching and reworking his history entitled *Historical Demonstrations* in ten books.
In this work, which spans the period from 1298 to 1464, L. C., imitating with affectation the style of Herodotus and Thucydides, describes the reasons for the triumph of the Turks, enemies of Greece, and extends his narrative beyond the borders of his homeland, notably to Italy.
The work, not free from chronological or factual errors, is often obscure, heavy, and monotonous.
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Alberto Galleti
Calcondila, Demetrio – Portrait in the fresco by Ghirlandaio (1490) – Florence, church of S. M. Novella.
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### CALCUTTA, ARCHDIOCESE OF.
The archdiocese of Calcutta was formed from the western part of the former Apostolic Vicariate of Bengal (1834), which was divided into eastern and western sections in 1850; it was erected as an archdiocese in 1887 with the establishment of the hierarchy in India.
It extends, in part, over the provinces of Bengal (Pakistan), Bihar, and Orissa (India), covering an area of 143,736 sq. km. and has a population of about 29 million, mostly Hindu. It is entrusted to the Belgian Jesuits, who arrived in 1899, succeeding their English confreres, though not immediately. With them work several Jesuit priests from Yugoslavia (among the southern Bengalis of Calcutta) and from Malta (among the Santals of northern Calcutta), as well as some Salesians (with an industrial school) and a few Maltese Dominicans who care for the missionary district of Orissa. There are many female congregations, including the Italian Sisters of Charity of Bl. Capitanio.
The apostolate, divided between the city and the district, began to develop under the episcopate of Msgr. Goetkals (1878–1902), who, through his educational works—especially the collegio universitario of St. Francis Xavier—and his promotion of conversion efforts, particularly through the enterprise of Fr. CLEVE (v.), won the mission the favor of public opinion. From these FRANCHI (v.), which was carved out of it in 1927. At Kurseong the mission has the theological studentate for young Jesuits. It carries on effective enlightenment work among the educated classes through its three periodicals: *Light of the East* (since 1922), *New Review* (1935), monthlies, and *The Herald*, a weekly.
In 1948 the personnel consisted of 154 foreign priests and 18 indigenous priests, 56 brothers, and 264 sisters. There are 39 parishes, 7 primary stations, and 282 secondary stations. Elementary schools: 230 with 8,627 pupils; middle schools: 19 with 1,237 pupils; higher schools: 34 with 3,781 pupils; professional schools: 7 with 387 pupils; normal schools: 3 with 31 pupils. Catholics number 77,060.
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### CALDARA, Polidoro: V. POLIDORO DA CARAVAGGIO.
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### CALDEA.
Hebrew: *Kasdîm*, *’eres Kasdîm*; Septuagint: Χαλδαῖοι, Χαλδαία; Vulgate: *Chaldei* and *terra Chaldaeorum*; in cuneiform texts: *Kasdu* and later *Koldu*.
Geographically, Mesopotamia (v.) lying between Babylonia (v.) to the north and the Persian Gulf to the south; inscriptions often reduce this extent, since the shores of the Persian Gulf are known by the special name *Bit-Jakin*. Later, c. the 12th century B.C., the name Chaldea came to include the whole Babylonian region.