Maria Branyas

Maria Branyas Morera (Catalan pronunciation: [məˈɾiə ˈβɾaɲəs]; born 4 March 1907) is an American-born Spanish supercentenarian. Aged 116 years and 32 days, she has been the world's oldest verified living person since the death of Lucile Randon on 17 January 2023.[1]

In this Catalan name, the first or paternal surname is Branyas and the second or maternal family name is Morera; both are generally joined by the conjunction "i".
Maria Branyas
María Branyas Morera
Branyas (left) with her mother and sister in Banyoles, Spain, in 1928
Born
Maria Branyas

(1907-03-04)4 March 1907
(age 116 years, 32 days)
San Francisco, California, U.S.
NationalitySpanish
Known forOldest known living person
(since 17 January 2023)
Spouse
Joan Moret
​
​
(m. 1931; died 1976)​
Children3 (1 deceased)

Early years
Branyas (middle) with her family in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1911
Branyas (bottom left) with her family in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1914

Branyas was born on 4 March 1907 in San Francisco, California, to an expatriate Spanish family (of Catalan origin) 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 1915.[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] Playing with her brothers, Branyas fell from the upper deck to the lower deck, losing her hearing in one ear.[5] Branyas's father died of tuberculosis on the voyage, and her mother later remarried.[3][6] The family settled first in Barcelona and subsequently moved to Banyoles.[6]

Personal life

In July 1931,[7] Branyas married Joan Moret, a doctor specialising in traumatology, with whom she had three children.[3][8][9] She worked at his side as a nurse during the Spanish Civil War,[6] working at a Nationalist field hospital in Trujillo, Extremadura.[3]

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][10] Branyas worked as a nurse and her husband's assistant.[11] 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] She has 11 grandchildren,[3] and she outlived her eldest son, August, who died in a tractor accident at the age of 86.[3][12]

Health and longevity

In 2000, at the age of 93, she moved to a nursing home in Olot, Catalonia, after contracting pneumonia.[3][13] Until her mobility deteriorated, she was an active resident, playing the piano and exercising.[6] She rarely leaves her room.[3] She has never smoked, drank alcohol, or dieted, and attributes her health to good genes. Branyas played the piano until she was 108.[14][6][15] She is hard of hearing and uses a voice-to-text platform to communicate.[6][16]

In March 2020, Branyas became the then-oldest[lower-alpha 1] person to recover from COVID-19.[17] In an 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".[18]

In July 2020, a Catalan research study into the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on elderly care home residents, led by the Spanish National Research Council and Dalt Pharmacy, was called Proyecto Branyas in her honour.[3][19]

After the death of Lucile Randon of France, on 17 January 2023, Branyas became the oldest living person in the world.[1]

See also

Notes
  1. Branyas remained the oldest person to recover from COVID-19 until January 2021, when Lucile Randon, who was three years Branyas' senior, tested negative days before her 117th birthday.

References
  1. "World's oldest person, French nun Sister Andre, dies aged 118". The Irish Times. 17 January 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  2. Jordan, Guifré (17 January 2023). "Catalonia's Maria Branyas becomes oldest living person on Earth at 115". Catalan News.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. Branyas, Maria (18 December 2020). "Tweet by Super Àvia Catalana". Twitter (in Catalan). Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  6. Costa-Pau, Aniol (18 January 2023). "La 'superàvia catalana' ja és la persona més vella del món". Ara (in Catalan). Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  7. Branyas, Maria (21 March 2022). "Tweet by Super Àvia Catalana". Twitter (in Catalan). Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  8. Branyas, Maria (21 March 2022). "Tweet by Super Àvia Catalana". Twitter (in Catalan). Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  9. Branyas, Maria (21 March 2022). "Tweet by Super Àvia Catalana". Twitter (in Catalan). Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  10. 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.
  11. "La història de la Maria Branyas, la persona més vella del món". www.naciodigital.cat (in Catalan). 18 January 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  12. García, Andrea (23 July 2020). "Tot un exemple: Maria, la catalana que ha superat el coronavirus amb 113 anys". Catalunya Diari (in Catalan). Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  13. Jordan, Guifré (19 August 2019). "Meet Catalonia's oldest person, a 112-year-old". Catalan News.
  14. Georgiou, Aristos (18 January 2023). "World's oldest person Maria Branyas did this until she was 108 years old". Newsweek.
  15. "Décès de sœur André: Maria Branyas Morera, 115 ans, serait la nouvelle doyenne de l'humanité". Sudouest (in French). 18 January 2023. ISSN 1760-6454. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  16. "World's oldest living person confirmed as US-born Spanish woman". Guinness World Records. 19 January 2023.
  17. "Catalonia's senior-most citizen survives Covid-19 at age 113". Catalan News. 11 May 2020.
  18. Kassam, Ashifa (16 May 2020). "113-year-old coronavirus survivor: 'The elderly are the forgotten ones of society'". The Observer. ISSN 1756-3224. Archived from the original on 17 May 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  19. "Maria Branyas". Branyas Project. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
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