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Youssef Salim HAYEK, Reverend

Youssef Salim HAYEK, Reverend

Male 1869 - 1915  (45 years)


Personal Information    |    Notes    |    All

  • Name Youssef Salim HAYEK 
    Suffix Reverend 
    Birth 22 Apr 1869  Sinn El Fil, Beirut, Lebanon Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Death 22 Mar 1915  Damascus, Syria Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I22877  Lebanon
    Last Modified 22 Sep 2026 

    Father Salim Yaacoub HAYEK 
    Family ID F7542  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Mariam CHIDIAC,   b. Hasroun, Bcharre, Lebanon Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 24 Sep 1958 
    Marriage 1888  Sinn El Fil, Lebanon Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
     1. Antoun Youssef HAYEK,   b. 13 Sep 1888, Sinn El Fil, Beirut, Lebanon Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 26 Sep 1965, Sinn El Fil, Beirut, Lebanon Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 77 years)
     2. Michel Youssef HAYEK,   b. 1 Jan 1895, Sinn El Fil, Beirut, Lebanon Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 15 Jan 1979, Sinn El Fil, Beirut, Lebanon Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 84 years)
     3. Alice HAYEK,   b. 13 Jul 1896, Sinn El Fil, Beirut, Lebanon Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 30 Jan 1969, Sinn El Fil, Beirut, Lebanon Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 72 years)
     4. Nicolas Youssef HAYEK,   b. 6 Jan 1897, Sinn El Fil, Beirut, Lebanon Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 11 Oct 1969, Sinn El Fil, Beirut, Lebanon Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 72 years)
     5. Dimitri Youssef HAYEK,   b. 14 Jun 1899, Sinn El Fil, Beirut, Lebanon Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 12 Oct 1952, Sinn El Fil, Beirut, Lebanon Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 53 years)
     6. Louis Youssef HAYEK,   b. 3 May 1903, Sinn El Fil, Beirut, Lebanon Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1 Sep 1983, Paris, Paris, Île-de-France, France Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 80 years)
     7. Selim Youssef HAYEK,   b. 1910, Sinn El Fil, Beirut, Lebanon Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 16 Sep 1996, Sinn El Fil, Beirut, Lebanon Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 86 years)
     8. Eugenie HAYEK,   b. 1911, Sinn El Fil, Beirut, Lebanon Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 28 Mar 1998, Sinn El Fil, Beirut, Lebanon Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 87 years)
    Family ID F7503  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 22 Sep 2026 

  • Notes 
    • Father Youssef Salim Hayek
      Maronite Priest and Martyr of Lebanon
      1869–1915

      Father Youssef Salim Hayek was born on April 22, 1869, in Sin el-Fil, Lebanon, the son of Salim Yaacoub Hayek. He grew up in a Maronite family and, from an early age, was drawn to religious life and service to his community.
      In 1888, Youssef Hayek married. In accordance with the tradition of the Maronite Church, which permits the ordination of married men, he subsequently entered the priesthood and was ordained on February 27, 1888. He became known as Father Youssef Hayek (الخوري يوسف الحايك).

      His life and ministry extended beyond Lebanon. In 1898, Father Youssef traveled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he visited his sister, who was living there. His journey placed him among the early Lebanese who maintained close family connections with relatives who had emigrated to South America during the great wave of Lebanese migration at the end of the nineteenth century.

      During the final years of Ottoman rule, Father Youssef became involved in the political and national concerns affecting Lebanon. His contacts and activities attracted the attention of the Ottoman authorities during a period of increasing repression and suspicion toward Lebanese figures who maintained relations with foreign countries.
      He was arrested and taken to Damascus, where he was tried and condemned by the Ottoman authorities.

      On March 22, 1915, Father Youssef Hayek was executed in Damascus at the age of forty-five. He was one of the first Lebanese martyrs executed during the period of Ottoman repression that marked the First World War, preceding the better-known executions of Lebanese and Syrian intellectuals and nationalists in 1916.
      His death became part of the collective memory of Lebanon’s martyrs. Father Youssef Hayek is among those whose sacrifice is remembered during the annual commemoration of the Martyrs of Lebanon on May 6, honoring the men who lost their lives during the Ottoman repression of the First World War.

      Father Youssef had wished that his remains would one day return to his native village. Nearly twenty-five years after his death, his coffin was transferred from Damascus to Sin el-Fil on November 12, 1939, bringing him home to the village where his life and family history had begun.

      Today, Father Youssef Salim Hayek is remembered as a Maronite priest, a Lebanese patriot, and one of the early Martyrs of Lebanon. His story belongs not only to the history of the Hayek family and Sin El Fil, but also to the broader history of Lebanon during the final years of Ottoman rule.

      His life also reflects an important part of Lebanese family history: the close relationship between family, faith, migration, and the history of Lebanon. Preserving his story allows future generations of the Hayek family, in Lebanon and throughout the diaspora, to remain connected to this chapter of their heritage.