Maria Branyas
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María Branyas Morera | |
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| File:MariaBrayansBanyolesSpain1928.jpg | |
| Born | 4 March 1907 (age 117 years, 283 days) |
| Nationality | Spanish |
| Known for | Oldest known living person (since 17 January 2023) |
María Branyas Morera (born 4 March 1907) is an American-born Spanish supercentenarian. Aged 117 years and 283 days, she has been the world's oldest living person since the death of Lucile Randon on 17 January 2023.[1]
Early years
Branyas was born in San Francisco, California, to an expatriate Catalan family that had moved to the United States in 1906, the year before she was born.[2][3] They later moved to Texas[3] and New Orleans,[3][4] where her father, Josep, who worked as a journalist, founded the Spanish-language magazine Mercurio.[4] After he went bankrupt, and following a doctor's recommendation amid his declining health,[3][4] the family decided to return to Catalonia in 1914.[4] Because of the German naval presence in the Atlantic Ocean during the First World War, their boat had to travel via Cuba and the Azores to ensure safe passage.[2] Branyas Morera's father died of tuberculosis on the voyage, and her mother later remarried.[3][5] The family settled first in Barcelona and subsequently moved to Banyoles.[5]
Later life
In 1931, Branyas married Joan Moret, a doctor specialising in traumatology, with whom she had three children.[3] She worked at his side as a nurse during the Spanish Civil War.[5] They later lived in Girona.[3] Moret became the regional leader of Obra Sindical 18 de Julio, a healthcare organisation in Francoist Spain, and was director of the Josep Trueta Hospital in Girona from 1972 to 1974.[3][6] He died of a heart attack in 1976.[4]
In the 1990s, already in her 80s, Branyas travelled to Egypt, Italy, the Netherlands and England, and took up sewing, music and reading.[3]
Health and longevity
In 2000, at the age of 92, she moved to a nursing home in Olot, Catalonia, after contracting pneumonia.[3][7] Until her mobility deteriorated, she was an active resident, playing the piano and exercising gymnastics.[5] She leads a quiet and simple life, and rarely leaves her room.[3] She has never smoked, drunk alcohol, or dieted, and attributes her health to good genes.[5] She is deaf.[5]
In March 2020, Branyas became the oldest person to recover from COVID-19.[8] In a interview with The Observer, she called for better treatment of the elderly: "This pandemic has revealed that older people are the forgotten ones of our society. They fought their whole lives, sacrificed time and their dreams for today's quality of life. They didn't deserve to leave the world in this way".[9]
In July 2020, a Catalan research study into the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on elderly care home residents, led by the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas and Dalt pharmacy, was called Proyecto Branyas in her honour.[3][10]
Branyas became a supercentenarian on 4 March 2017. She has been the oldest living Spaniard since the death of Josefa Santos Gonzalez on 22 December 2019. Following the death of Lucile Randon on 17 January 2023, she also became the oldest living person in the world.[1]
See also
- List of Spanish supercentenarians
- List of European supercentenarians
- List of the verified oldest people
- Oldest people
References
- ^ a b "World's oldest person, French nun Sister Andre, dies aged 118". The Irish Times. 17 January 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
- ^ a b Jordan, Guifré (17 January 2023). "Catalonia's Maria Branyas becomes oldest living person on Earth at 115". Catalan News.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simón, Pedro (23 July 2020). "Maria, la Española de 111 años que derrotó al coronavirus" (PDF). El Mundo (in Spanish). pp. 37–8. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
- ^ a b c d e Dusster, David (13 October 2019). "María Branyas, la abuela de Catalunya: "No he hecho nada más que vivir"". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 January 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f Costa-Pau, Aniol (18 January 2023). "La 'superàvia catalana' ja és la persona més vella del món". Ara (in Catalan). Retrieved 18 January 2023.
- ^ Roig García, Josep; Merino Palomar, Purificación; Baró Seguí, Joan (2006). De la Residència a hospital d’alt nivell: 50 anys de l’Hospital Dr. Josep Trueta de Girona (1956-2006) (PDF) (in Catalan) (1st ed.). Girona: Generalitat de Catalunya: Department of Health. pp. 160–161. ISBN 978-8439370482.
- ^ Jordan, Guifré (19 August 2019). "Meet Catalonia's oldest person, a 112-year-old". Catalan News.
- ^ "Catalonia's senior-most citizen survives Covid-19 at age 113". Catalan News. 11 May 2020.
- ^ Kassam, Ashifa (16 May 2020). "113-year-old coronavirus survivor: 'The elderly are the forgotten ones of society'". The Guardian. ISSN 1756-3224. Archived from the original on 17 May 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
- ^ "Maria Branyas". Branyas Project. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
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