Biography Francis Mansour Zayek

1 biography

1.1 life
1.2 bishop

1.2.1 brazil
1.2.2 second vatican council
1.2.3 united states
1.2.4 awards


1.3 death

biography
early life

zayek born in manzanillo, cuba, 1 of 8 children of mansour zayek , mariam khoury, on october 18, 1920. family moved cuba homeland of lebanon in 1931, part of french mandate syria , lebanon , settled in native city of ghazir. inspired uncle, father george zayek, local pastor, felt drawn priesthood. of youth, felt drawn enter franciscan order service missionary asia.

instead of path, zayek applied seminary of maronite church in hometown, approval of local bishop, elias richa, archbishop of baalbek. excelled in studies @ seminary, being fluent in arabic in french , spanish (and later in italian, portuguese , english) , archbishop decided send him rome further studies, continued gain honors. spent world war ii studying @ urban college, gained diploma in philosophy. later recounted struggle seminarians faced find food in period. after graduating, ordained maronite catholic priest in chapel of college on march 17, 1946. zayek became incardinated in lebanon.

zayek earned doctorates in both theology , canon law @ lateran university. after completing studies, zayek sent cairo, egypt, appointed boutros deeb, maronite archbishop of cairo, rector of maronite cathedral of holy family there, , judge in catholic tribunals of city. served assistant papal nuncio there. later returned rome served judge of roman rota , consultant in canon law @ pontifical atheneum of st. anselm , @ lateran university.

bishop
brazil

on may 30, 1962, pope john xxiii appointed zayek head maronite apostolic exarchate (the equivalent in eastern churches of vicariate apostolic) maronites in brazil, first maronite bishop serve outside of middle east. consecrated bishop @ ceremony held in dimane, lebanon, on august 5, 1962, mar paul peter meouchi, maronite patriarch of antioch , co-consecrators peter sfair, ordinary bishop maronites in rome, , abdallah nujaim, eparch of baalbek. pope, in appointing him, told him, “what maronites have not pertain alone part of treasure of catholic church .

officially auxiliary bishop of roman catholic archdiocese of rio de janeiro, , titular bishop of callinicum dei maroniti, zayek served bishop maronites of country until 1966.

second vatican council

zayek 1 of last surviving bishops had attended 4 sessions of second vatican council between 1962 , 1965 bishop.

the united states

on january 27, 1966, venerable pope paul vi established similar exarchate united states, , transferred zayek serve first exarch. installed in detroit, seat of exarchate, on june 11, 1966. arrived in united states rudimentary knowledge of english, finding unfinished cathedral , neither residence nor offices ready him. had needed in brazil, worked unify maronite catholics of country.

zayek had face many challenges. first identity of church. arguments raged whether transplant of lebanese life or american institution rooted in lebanese heritage. in remained guided words of pope john. additionally, had deal liturgical changes mandated vatican council. had maronite divine liturgy translated english first time, creating standardized service use in every parish of exarchate.

pope paul elevated exarchate full eparchy, or diocese, on november 29, 1971, , appointed zayek first bishop of eparchy of st. maron of detroit. zayek installed first bishop on june 4, 1972. seat of eparchy moved detroit church of st. maron in brooklyn on 27 june 1977 , renamed eparchy of st. maron of brooklyn.

to honor years of service, pope john paul ii promoted zayek personal rank of archbishop on december 10, 1982. retired on november 11, 1996, when reached mandatory retirement age of 75. moved fort lauderdale, florida, served @ our lady of lebanon maronite catholic church in miami, florida.

awards

zayek member of maronite patriarchal synod , received ellis island medal of honor.

death

when zayek s health began falter in late 2009, returned lebanon. died on september 14, 2010, @ age of 89, , buried there. survived sister, lydia, resident of lebanon, , brother, elias, resident of brazil.