Jaime Óscar Valdés

About Jaime Óscar Valdés

Jaime Óscar Valdés was born in Havana, Cuba, in January 1891. He became a brother of the Hospital Order of Saint John of God.

The Havana historian Ramón Suárez Polcari records his placement in the city’s Casa de Beneficencia on January 15, 1891. After primary school, he learned the trade of shoemaking. In 1912 he told the chaplain that he wished to enter the hospital order. Because the brothers had not yet returned to Cuba, he was sent to Spain for his novitiate.

He entered the order at Ciempozuelos in February 1913. His service included communities at Ciempozuelos and San Rafael in Madrid before an assignment to Colombia in 1920. He became superior in Bogotá from 1928 to 1931, then vice-superior in Barcelona. In 1934 he moved to Valencia, where his responsibilities included the pharmacy and clothing stores.

Suárez Polcari places his solemn profession in 1920 and remembers his later service as a brother in the Valencia house. The historian presents him alongside José Olallo Valdés as a former child of the same Havana institution who entered the hospital order. They were distinct men, whose service followed different paths.

Writing in Miami’s diocesan newspaper, Rogelio Zelada describes the Valencia hospital as caring for children who were ill, disabled or orphaned. He adds that Valdés worked as a nurse in its outpatient clinics. This account places his pharmacy and clothing duties alongside direct patient care, giving a fuller picture of his daily hospital service.

Valdés was killed in Valencia on August 7, 1936, during the Spanish Civil War. One account describes his removal from bed with the superior that night.

The order’s individual notice instead describes his interception while traveling toward Barcelona with documents permitting his return to Cuba. These accounts differ about the circumstances preceding his death.

The Spanish Episcopal Conference records his beatification on October 13, 2013. His recognized Catholic status is Blessed, and the register identifies his membership in the Hospital Order of Saint John of God.