Venerable Elias Peter Hoayek

Elias Peter Hoayek (Arabic: الياس بطرس الحويّك; 4 December 1843 – 24 December 1931; also spelled Hoyek, Hwayek, Huayek, Juayek, Hawayek, Houwayek) was the 72nd Maronite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch from 1898 until his death in 1931. Elias Hoayek was born in Helta, Batroun, North Lebanon on December 4, 1843.. His younger brother, Saadallah Howayek, was a politician, and would represent Batroun in the Mutassarifiate's administrative council before going to exile in 1920. He studied at the Seminary College of St. John Maroun in North Lebanon. He later went to the Jesuit seminary of Ghazir in 1859, where he studied languages (French, Arabic, Syriac, Latin, Greek) as well as philosophy. In 1866, he went to Rome to study theology at the Propaganda Fide. In 1870, he was made a Catholic priest and returned to Lebanon. Upon his return, he taught theology at his old school the Seminary of St. John Maroun. He was appointed secretary and moved to the patriarchal residence in 1872, where he remained until 1898 when he was elected Patriarch. He was consecrated titular bishop of Arca on December 14, 1889 by Patriarch Paul Peter Massad. As vicar of Patriarch John Peter El Hajj, he was commissioned to raise the necessary funds for the construction of a residence to the Maronites in Jerusalem and for the construction of the new Maronite seminary in Rome, which opened in 1893. In 1895, Hoayek founded the Congregation of the Maronite Sisters of the Holy Family. The previous patriarch, John el Hajj, died on Christmas Eve in 1898; Hoayek was requested to return to Lebanon from a trip to Rome. On January 6, 1899, he was elected Patriarch and, in the consistory of June 19, 1899, Hoayek was ratified as the choice of Maronite bishops by Pope Leo XIII, who granted him the pallium. Hoayek adopted the middle name Peter (Boutros) to signify him being the successor to Peter, first Bishop of Antioch.