Sister Inah Canabarro Lucas, the world’s oldest person, has died at the age of 116, her religious order said on Wednesday.
She became the world’s oldest person in January after Japan’s Tomiko Itooka died, according to Guinness World Records (GWR). Canabarro was born on June 8, 1908, when Theodore Roosevelt was still the U.S. president, penicillin didn’t exist, and movies were silent.
Her nephew, Cleber Canabarro, said she may have actually been born on May 27, but her birth wasn’t registered until two weeks later. As a child, she was so thin that people thought she wouldn’t live long.
She became a nun as a teenager and always said her strong Catholic faith helped her live so long. “(God) is the secret of life. He is the secret of everything,” she once said. Pope Francis sent her a blessing on her 110th birthday.
She lived in Uruguay for two years before returning to Brazil. She spent most of her life teaching, including to General João Figueiredo, who ruled Brazil from 1979 to 1985.
She was a big fan of the soccer team Sport Club Internacional, which celebrated her birthday each year. The team praised her for her “kindness, faith and love.”
Now that Canabarro has passed away, the new oldest living person is Ethel Caterham, a 115-year-old great-grandmother from England. She is believed to be the last living person born in 1909.
It is not known whether she is a soccer fan, or which team she supports, but her reported interests include travel, gardening, listening to classical music, and playing bridge. She attributes her longevity to avoiding arguments and maintaining a peaceful life.
Before Canabarro, Lucile Randon from France held the record but died at 118. The current oldest woman and oldest person is María Branyas Morera, born in San Francisco in 1907. She moved to Spain with her family and has lived in Catalonia ever since. Her Twitter bio says: “I am old, very old, but not an idiot.”
Canabarro was the second-oldest Brazilian ever and the 15th-oldest person recorded in history. The oldest person ever was Jeanne Louise Calment of France, who lived to 122 years and 164 days.
Sources: News Agencies.