HORMIZD, RABBAN. – A Nestorian monk of the 7th century, founder of the monastery near Alkoš (region of Mosul) that bears his name, where monastic life flourished for a long time. However, in the period of the decline of the Nestorian Church (from the 14th century onward), the monastery fell into ruin. The monastic life was revived there through the zealous Catholic GABRIEL Dembô, who took up residence there in 1808 and founded the Congregation of St. Hormizd (a 4th-century martyr commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on August 18).
Bibl.: E. A. Wallis Budge, The histories of Rabban H. the Persian and Rabban Bar-Idta, in Luzac's Semitic Text and Translation Series, IX-XI, London 1902; St. Bello, La Congregation de St Hormizd et l'Eglise chaldéenne dans la première moitié du XIXe siècle, Rome 1939.