CALDEI. — This is the name given, from the region of ancient Chaldea where they dwell, to the Syrian Catholics converted from Nestorianism.
The first union was effected around the middle of the sixteenth century. The occasion was a dispute over the election of the patriarch. Among the Nestorians, in fact, the patriarchal dignity had become hereditary from 1450 onward. Now, upon the death of the patriarch Simon VII Bar Māmā (1551), the opponents of his nephew Simon VIII Denhā elected the superior of the monastery of Rabban Hormizd near Alcoche, Giovanni Sulāqā. He sought protection from the Custodian of the Holy Land, who sent him to Rome, where in 1552 he entered the Catholic Church and was recognized as patriarch by the Holy See. Upon returning to his homeland, he chose Diarbekir as his residence. He died in 1555, a martyr of the union.
One of his successors transferred his residence some thirty years later to Persia, near Salmas. Relations with Rome grew increasingly distant, until Simon XIII Denhā (1662–1700) completely abandoned the union and settled at Kotchannes in the mountains of Kurdistan. But not all the Catholics defected. At Diarbekir a strong nucleus of Catholics remained, effectively assisted by the Capuchins. The bishop of that city, Giuseppe, became Catholic in 1672 and in 1681 received from Rome the title of patriarch. He succeeded in having himself recognized by the Turkish government as independent of the Nestorian patriarch. The Catholics of the patriarch of Diarbekir also gained many adherents in the region of Mossul. The faction of Nestorians that had remained there in the sixteenth century found the way back toward the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century. From the fusion of these Catholics with those of Diarbekir, not without serious difficulties, the present Catholic Chaldean patriarchate was formed.
The Nestorian successors of the patriarch Simon VII Bar Māmā resided in the monastery of Rabban Hormizd near Alcoche, in the region of Mossul. They were all called Elia. Several attempts at union were made, but remained fruitless until the end of the eighteenth century. Finally, Elia XI signed the profession of Catholic faith in 1771. He then designated his nephew Giovanni Hormez (1760) as his successor and consecrated him bishop at only sixteen years of age. After the death of Elia XI (1778), he became Catholic, and following the death of one of his competitors he was elected patriarch. The Holy See did not recognize his election; nevertheless, in 1783 it confirmed him as archbishop of Mossul and administrator of the patriarchate of Babylon. The Latin missionaries hoped, with his help, to convert all the Nestorians dependent upon him. A bitter and varied struggle arose, however, and continued for decades between the long-established Catholics of Diarbekir and the recent convert Giovanni Hormez, who in 1834 was recognized by Rome as the sole patriarch of all the Chaldean Catholics. With him begins the series of Catholic Chaldean patriarchs of Babylon, which continues to this day.
This distasteful dispute had been fueled not only by suspicion regarding Giovanni Hormez’s sincerity, but also by personal rivalries and hostility toward the Abuna family, to which Giovanni belonged. Rome decided to put an end to the discord by suppressing one of the patriarchates, specifically that of Diarbekir. For this purpose, in 1791 it appointed Giovanni Hormez administrator of that patriarchate, following the resignation of the patriarch Giuseppe IV (1780). Soon, however, because of the strong opposition of the Catholics of Diarbekir to Giovanni, Giuseppe IV was elected administrator of the patriarchate (1792). Upon his death in 1796, Agostino Hindi, appointed in 1802, succeeded him as administrator. Giovanni Hormez’s opponents had accused him of various offenses, not all of them unfounded, both before the Holy See and before the Turkish government, and succeeded in having him imprisoned for some time. Under the impression of these accusations, the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith appointed Agostino Hindi apostolic delegate for all the Chaldeans in 1811 and suspended Giovanni Hormez the following year. This suspension was confirmed in 1818, while in that same year Agostino Hindi received the pallium, which he interpreted as an appointment to the patriarchate, taking the name Giuseppe V. He died in 1827. With him the line of the patriarchs of Diarbekir came to an end.
Giovanni Hormez did not despair of his cause. He found strong support in the Latin bishop of Baghdad, Monsignor Alessandro Coupperie. Among Giovanni’s opponents, mention must first be made of the monks of the Congregation of S. Hormisdas, founded in 1808 by Gabriele Danbo. At the urging of Monsignor Coupperie, Giovanni Hormez was absolved from the suspension in 1826. It was decided that he would retain the title of patriarch, but only after resigning the offices of archbishop of Mossul and administrator of the patriarchate. He, however, did not submit to these conditions. Finally, the successor of Monsignor Coupperie (who died in 1831), Lorenzo Trionche, obtained in 1834 the appointment of Giovanni Hormez to the patriarchate of Babylon. Giovanni died in 1838.
The Chaldean patriarch of Babylon resides in Mossul. His jurisdiction extends over all the Chaldeans of the Near East. The great majority of them live in Iraq, where there are six dioceses with 100,620 faithful, 111 priests, and a total of 83 churches. In Iran there are three dioceses with 11,482 faithful, 19 priests, and two churches. In Asiatic Turkey, the four dioceses formerly existing there have now been destroyed. There remain 6,465 faithful, four priests, and two churches. In Syria, the diocese of Gezirah has existed for some time, with 3,107 faithful, 11 priests, and two churches. Outside these dioceses there are also missions in Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and Palestine, with a total of 9,177 faithful, 14 priests, and eight churches. Scattered throughout the world, especially in America, there live 9,889 faithful and four priests. The total number of Chaldeans is 140,720 faithful and 163 priests; the number of churches is 98 (cf. statistics for 1937, in Orient. christ. periodica, 4 [1938], pp. 272–74). Monasticism is represented almost exclusively by the aforementioned Congregation of S. Hormisdas.
The Chaldeans lack a noteworthy literature. Recently, however, the attention (v.).
BIBLI: S. Giamil, Genuinae relationes inter Sedem Apostolicam et Assyriorum orientalium seu Chaldacorum Ecclesiam, Rome 1902; E. Tisserant, Nestorienne (Eglise), in DThC, XI, cols. 157–288; G. Beltrami, La Chiesa caldea nel secolo dell’unione (Orient. christiana, 29), Rome 1933; St. Bello, La Congregation de s. Hormisdas et l’Eglise chaldéenne dans la première moitié du XIXᵉ siècle (Orient. christ. analecta, 122), ibid. 1939.
Guglielmo De Vries
THE CHALDEAN RITE. – Also called Nestorian, Persian, or East Syrian, it originated in Mesopotamia, incorporated into the Persian Empire, and spread southward to Malabar and eastward into Central Asia and China (for the liturgical fragments discovered cf. A. Baumstark, Die christl. literarischen Turfan-Funde, in Or. christ., new series, 3 [1913], pp. 328–332; id., Neue soghdisch-nestorianische Bruchstücke, ibid., 4 [1915], pp. 123–28; N. Pigoulewsky, Fragments syriaques et syro-turcs de Hara-Hoto et du Tourfan, in Revue Or. Chrétien, 30 [1935–36], pp. 3–46). Today the rite exists among the Nestorians of Kurdistan, among the Catholic c. of Iraq and Persia, and among the Malabarese. For the particular features of this latter rite, V. MALABARESE, RITE.
Of the ancient Chaldean rite, before the 5th century, probably deriving, at least in part, from the Aramaic city of Edessa, it is impossible to form an idea because of the almost total lack of information and documents. This rite was partly abandoned or reformed at the Synod of Seleucia (410), following the example of the “Western” Fathers, that is, those of Osrhoene and northern Syria; this is why the most important sources of the new rite also include the Catecheses of Theodore of Mopsuestia. To these are added the Homilies of Narsai of Nisibis, who also composed hymns for the liturgical feasts, and the decisions of various synods of the Nestorian Church. The greatest organizer of the rite was the katholikos Ìšò'jahb III (647–57): he regulated the pre-anaphoral part of the Mass, prescribed the use of only three anaphoras (of the Apostles, of Nestorius, and of Theodore of Mopsuestia), excluding the others, removed the exorcisms from the baptismal rite, shortened the ceremonies of ordination, and composed the choir book called Hudrā. After him, the ceremonies underwent few changes, so it seems, at least to one who examines the liturgical commentaries of Abraham bar Lifeh, the anonymous author of the 9th century, Ìšò' bar Nūn, Timothy I, Jōhannān bar Zō'bi, 'Abdišō', Timothy II, and the casuists in their Questions and Answers (cf. W. C. van Unnik, Nestorian Questions on the Administration of the Eucharist, Haarlem 1937). The texts, however, were able to undergo renewal, and liturgical poetry was enriched until the 17th century (cf. A. Baumstark, Gesch. der syr. Literatur, Bonn 1922). But the definitive and unifying redaction of the liturgical books still in use today is due to the work of the “Upper Monastery” of Mosul (cf. A. Rücker, Das Obere Kloster bei Mossul und seine Bedeutung für die Geschichte der ostsyr. Liturgie, in Or. christ., 3rd series, 7 [1932], pp. 180–87). After the 13th century the liturgy followed the profound decline of the Nestorian Church; the faithful who united themselves to the Catholic Church in the 16th century and then at the end of the 18th have preserved their rite in fairly pure form. What is most striking in the Chaldean rite is the ancient structure of its ceremonies, by virtue of which it constitutes a truly distinct rite among the Eastern rites, differing also from the West Syrian rite, with which it shares the Syriac language and the poetic heritage of St. Ephrem. This antiquity and separatism are due to its geographical and political position (Mesopotamia lay outside the Roman and Byzantine worlds) and to the fundamental dogma of the Nestorian Church, which separated it from the Orthodox and the Monophysites.
The Mass. – After the customary beginning, the psalmody commences; together with the hymn of the sanctuary, the chant called Lakā Mārā, and the incensing of the church, these constitute the preparatory rites; the Catholic c. add the preparation of the oblations. The instructional part of the Mass opens with the Trisagion; there are four readings: the first is taken from the Law, the second from the Prophets, the third is the Epistle, and the fourth the Gospel; each reading has its diaconal announcement and its introductory prayer, while the Gospel also has the incensing. The Kārāzūtā, a kind of litany which continues the great prayer for common needs, attested as early as St. Justin, has remained only on certain days of Lent, but the prayer accompanying it is recited daily. To conclude the Mass of the catechumens, the priest says the prayer of the inclination of the head, in order to impose hands and give the blessing to the catechumens and penitents who will depart after the deacon’s injunction: “Whoever has not received Baptism, let him depart! Whoever has not received the sign of life, let him depart! Whoever does not receive it, let him depart! Go, O hearers, and guard the doors.” For the faithful who alone remain, the sacrifice begins. The priest washes his hands, takes the bread and wine with water, and offers the oblations, making the paten touch the chalice three times, while the choir performs the hymn of the mysteries. Then the bishop designates (as in antiquity) one of the priests seated around him to sanctify the gifts; this priest proceeds toward the sanctuary and, after the singing of the Symbol, recites the prayer of the veil, making three bows and advancing one step toward the altar with each bow. Having arrived there, he kisses the altar in the middle, then at the right extremity, and then at the left extremity; continuing his prayers, he returns to the middle, where he again kisses the altar three times—at the center, slightly to the right, and to the left. In his prayer he gives thanks to God for having deemed him worthy, although a sinner, to administer these mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ. Thus this expressive ceremony of the approach to the altar comes to an end. After it, in obedience to the Lord’s command, the deacon proclaims: “Brothers, give one another peace”; and while each person places his hands in those of his neighbor, the diptychs of the living and the dead were read in ancient times. There follows another admonition by the deacon and an incensing, after which the priest removes the veil covering the oblations and intones the great Eucharistic prayer with the dialogue of the preface. This prayer is interrupted three times: first by the people, who sing the Sanctus; then, after the Consecration, by the deacon, who invites them to pray while the priest says the prayers of intercession; and the third time again by the deacon, who admonishes the people to pay attention because the priest is about to say the epiclesis. Communion is already being prepared. After incensing the hands that will perform the fraction, the priest (among Catholics only) raises the Host and, after the fraction, intinction, and communion, raises the chalice. In various prayers the people affirm their faith in Christ, God and Man, ask forgiveness for their sins, recite the Pater Noster, and respond to the Sancta sanctis. Communion is then given: among Catholics under one species, among Nestorians under both. Prayers of thanksgiving and the blessing conclude the Mass. The Nestorians now consume the sacred species, while Catholics perform the ablutions after Communion.
It is worth noting that in the anaphora of the Apostles, probably Mesopotamian in structure and origin, the words of consecration are lacking; this grave deficiency is remedied by taking the text from one of the other two anaphoras, that of Nestorius perhaps from Byzantium, and that of Theodore from Cilicia (cf. A. Raes, Le Récit de l'institution eucharistique dans l'anaphore chaldéenne et malabare des Apôtres, in Or. chr. periodica, 10 [1944], pp. 216–26).
BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION. - Ìšò'jahb III reformed this rite and composed it for children; but since, according to his Pelagian theory, children are exempt from every sin, including original sin, he suppressed the exorcisms and the solemn renunciation of the devil from the baptismal rite. In ancient times the rites of the catechumenate existed among the Nestorians (cf. W. de Vries, Zur Liturgie der Erwachsenentaufe bei den Nestorianern, in Or. chr. periodica, 9 [1943], pp. 460-73). The new rite presents a structure similar to that of the Mass; thus, at the time of the Offertory, instead of bread and wine, oil is brought to the altar and covered with a veil; this oil is blessed after the Sanctus with an epiclesis; the water is blessed after the Pater Noster, and after the Sancta sanctis the body of the person being baptized is anointed and immersed three times in the water; then they return from the baptistery to the church and the priest lays his hands on the baptized person, and, marking him with his thumb, anoints him on the forehead: this is the double rite of Confirmation. In ancient times there then followed the third Sacrament of initiation, Communion.
PENANCE. – The Nestorians do not seem to have known any penitential rite other than that for the reconciliation of an apostate or a heretic; the other one attributed to Ìšò'jahb III and published by H. J. Denzinger (Ritus Orientalium, II, Würzburg 1864, p. 467) certainly has a different purpose. For it to be a rite of private penance, it lacks Confession and the entire liturgical portion consisting of prayers, psalms, prostrations, and acts of humility that precede II. Some influence of Latin private penance can be discerned
in a recent rite, which the Nestorians, however, adopted from the Jacobites (cf. J. Vosté, La confession chez les Nestoriens, in Angelicum, 7 [1930], pp. 17–26).
PRIESTLY ORDINATION. - It has preserved its ancient structure. The candidate first receives the tonsure and the insignia of the diaconate, after which there follows a long series of prayers, readings, and chants. Then the candidate kneels and covers his eyes with his hands, while the bishop recites the formula: « The grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ... », and lays his hands on the candidate’s head, saying the two sacramental prayers; having him rise, he clothes him in the tunic and the orarium, returns the Book of the Gospel to him, and makes the sign of the cross on his forehead. It concludes with the kiss of peace. For the first edition of the pontifical, cf. J. Vosté, Actes du XXe Congrès intern. des Orientalistes, Bruxelles 1938, p. 340.
EXTREME UNCTION. — The lengthy rite celebrated by several priests, and which is fundamentally the same in all the Eastern rites, does not appear ever to have penetrated among the Nestorians. In order to remedy this deficiency, the Catholic C. have drawn up a rite for this Sacrament with an Eastern structure.
THE DIVINE OFFICE. – It has only the three great hours, Vespers, Nocturns, and Matins; at times Compline is added to Vespers; the Catholic monks add the little hours borrowed from the Maronites. In the Nocturns, a third of the psalter is recited, so that on the six weekdays of the week the entire psalter is recited twice; in the other hours as well, the psalms constitute the fundamental part. Liturgical poetry, however, is abundant, but the readings from Sacred Scripture are entirely lacking. It should be noted that even today the people regularly attend and participate every day in Vespers and Matins. For the Catholics, a Breviary was printed that greatly reduced the length of the Office of the Night.