Archbishop Francis Mansour Zayek (Arabic: فرنسيس منصور الزايك ; born October 18, 1920, Manzanillo, Cuba – died on September 14, 2010) was a prelate of the Maronite Church.
[2] Instead of that path, Zayek applied to the seminary of the Maronite Church in his hometown, with the approval of his local bishop, Elias Richa, the Archbishop of Baalbek.
He later returned to Rome where he served as a judge of the Roman Rota and as a consultant in canon law at the Pontifical Atheneum of St. Anselm and at the Lateran University.
He was consecrated bishop at a ceremony held in Dimane, Lebanon, on August 5, 1962, by Mar Paul Peter Meouchi, Maronite Patriarch of Antioch, and his co-consecrators were Peter Sfair, Ordinary Bishop for Maronites in Rome, and Abdallah Nujaim, Eparch of Baalbek.
He arrived in the United States with just a rudimentary knowledge of English, and found an unfinished cathedral and neither a residence nor offices ready for him.
He had the Maronite Divine Liturgy translated into English for the first time, creating a standardized service for use in every parish of the exarchate.
[3] To honor his years of service, Pope John Paul II promoted Zayek to the personal rank of archbishop on December 10, 1982.
[1] Eparch Gregory J. Mansour, a successor, wrote in reaction to Zayek's death, "The Maronite Church in the United States is deeply indebted to the archbishop for his zealous efforts in establishing the strong, vibrant Maronite community we have today...May Archbishop Zayek share in the glory of the Cross which we celebrate this day!