Thomas Saleh

Thomas Saleh (3 May 1879 – 28 February 1917), born Jirays H̱anā S̱āleẖ, religious name Thūmā from B'abdāt, was a Lebanese Maronite priest of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. Saleh joined the Franciscans in Istanbul and carried out his novitiate period there before he made his profession in mid-1900 and was ordained to the priesthood in late 1904. He tended to the missions and worked with his peer Leonard Melki; he dedicated himself to the mission school and was a noted preacher. He was transferred in 1910 but expelled in late 1914 once World War I and the Assyrian Genocide[commenced. Saleh was arrested in 1916 after the police planted evidence in his convent to frame him to make an arrest. He was mistreated in prison before he died from exhaustion from the torture in addition to the disease that ailed him in his imprisonment. He refused to capitulate to his captors to convert to Islam and refused to abandon his faith.