Blessed Cosme Brun

Cosme Brun Ararà (Santa Coloma de Farners, November 12, 1894 – Boadilla del Monte, September 1, 1936), born Simón Isidro Joaquín Brun Ararà, was a Spanish Hospitaller religious. He is considered a blessed and martyr by the Catholic Church. He was confirmed in the Catholic faith by Bishop Josep Torras i Bages and was a trusted aide to the Bishop of Girona, Francesc de Pol i Baralt. He entered the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God on November 9, 1916, and moved to Mataró (Barcelona) in 1917. He made his solemn profession on June 3, 1921. He served in various locations, including Barcelona, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Madrid, Valencia, Palencia, Pamplona, the Old Psychiatric Hospital of Santa Águeda in Mondragón, Málaga, Granada, Seville, Gibraltar, Ciempozuelos, and Carabanchel Alto. On September 1, 1936, while they were feeding patients, militiamen took Cosme and his companions to Boadilla del Monte, where they were murdered. His body was found incorrupt—with almost no signs of decomposition—when the grave was opened in 1942. He was beatified in Rome on October 25, 1992, by Pope John Paul II, along with 70 other religious of the same order. His remains rest in the crypt of the San José Foundation in Carabanchel Alto, though there are also relics of him in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Mataró and the parish church of Santa Coloma de Farners.