GIORGIO WARDÀ. - Nestorian hymnographer of the 13th century, native of Arbela, author of numerous (at least 150) religious hymns included in the Chaldean rite Office.
The collection of his hymns was called Wardà (= “rose”), whence his surname. Among the subjects he treats are the following: penance, prayer, public needs and calamities, the story of Jonah, the Pater Noster, and the apocryphal stories of the childhood of Jesus.
BIBL.: H. Hilgenfeld, Ausgewählte Gesänge des Gicurges W. von Arbel, Leipzig 1904; A. Baumstark, Geschichte der syrischen Literatur, Bonn 1922, pp. 304-306; J. B. Chabot, Littérature syrienne, Paris 1934, p. 137.