Sister Andre: Guinness World Records Confirms 118 Year Old French Nun as World's Oldest Person

• Following the death of a Japanese woman who was the world's oldest person, a 118-year-old French nun has taken over the title
• Sister Andre, born Lucile Randon, was born in southern France on February 11, 1904, even before World War I
• The French nun who begins every day with breakfast and then a morning mass lives a happy life at a nursing home in Toulon along the Mediterranean coast

French nun Sister Andre, at 118, is now the oldest known person in the world, as claimed, following the death of a Japanese woman one year her senior.

Japan's Kane Tanaka, deemed the world's oldest by the International Database on Longevity (IDL) and Guinness World Records, died aged 119 on April 25.

Lucile, who took the name of Sister André in 1944, is the third-oldest French person and the third-oldest European person ever recorded, Guinness World Records reported.

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"Sister Andre indeed becomes the oldest, and by far, since the next oldest is a Polish woman who is 115," said Laurent Toussaint.

Toussaint is a computer scientist and amateur tracker for the IDL as well as the French Institute of demographic studies (INED).

Sister Andre's daily routine

Sister Andre currently lives a happy life at a nursing home in Toulon along the Mediterranean coast.

She begins every day with breakfast followed by a morning mass, though she can no longer see.

"But it's just another step, because her real goal is to overtake Jeanne Calment," a French woman who was reportedly 122-years-old when she died in 1997, "Tavella said.

According to reports, Sister Andre got a handwritten New Year's greeting from President Emmanuel Macron, among the many letters and boxes of chocolates sent by well-wishers.

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"I was always admired for my wisdom and intelligence, but now people could care less because I'm stubborn," she jokingly said in an interview for her 118th tour around the sun.

"I thinking of getting out of this business but they won't let me," she said.

Sister Andre's work-life

The sister previously worked as a governess in Paris, a period she once noted as the happiest time of her life, before taking her religious vows with the Daughters of Charity.

The home's communications director David Tavella said the French nun likes the new attention adding that a short press conference would be held Tuesday morning.

Sister André has lived an entire life and worked as a teacher, a governess, and in her younger years, and looked after children during World War II.

After the war, she spent 28 years working with orphans and elderly people at a hospital in Vichy, Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region, before becoming a Catholic nun.

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Spending most of her life dedicated to religious service, Sister André also holds the record for the oldest nun living.

In 2019 she was made an honorary citizen of the city in which she resides, Toulon, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region, France, and received a letter from Pope Francis.

Kane Tanaka dies aged 119

Briefly News previously reported the world's oldest person, Kane Tanaka passed away on April 19, 2022, aged 119.

The news of her death was broken by Senior Gerontology consultant Robert Young, who was also instrumental in confirming Kane’s record as the oldest person living and oldest person living (female) in 2019.

On April 13, Kane's family tweeted that she had been hospitalised and discharged repeatedly. Kane was born on January 02, 1903, as the seventh child of Kumakichi and Kuma Ota. The old woman had been living at a rest home in Fukuoka and enjoyed playing board games and doing maths.

Source: Briefly News