PARIS: Sister André, a French nun and the oldest known person in the world, who lived through two world wars and the 1918 flu pandemic and survived Covid-19, died Tuesday in France. She was 118 years old.
A spokesperson for the retirement home in the southern city of Toulon, where Sister André resided, confirmed the death in an interview with French media.
“Humanity loses its oldest person tonight” Hubert Falcothe city’s mayor, wrote on Twitter.
Sister André has made headlines in recent years for being the world’s oldest known Covid survivor, according to Guinness World Records. She beat the disease with almost no complications when she was about to turn 117.
“She kept telling me, ‘I’m not afraid of Covid because I’m not afraid of dying,'” David Tavella, spokesman for the care home, Ste. Catherine Labouré, said in an interview with The New York Times in 2021.
On Tuesday, Tavella told Agence France-Presse that it was “Sister André’s desire to join her beloved brother”, to whom she was close, in death.
“For her, it’s freedom,” he said.
Born Lucile Randon on February 11, 1904, the year New York City opened its first subway station, Sister André grew up in a Protestant family of six in the southern town of Alès. She worked as a governess in Paris and later converted to Catholicism and was baptized when she was 26. She joined a charitable order about two decades later and took her ecclesiastical title.
Sister André was assigned to a hospital in Vichy, where she cared for orphans and others for three decades.
She was known for her generosity, often helping older people younger than herself.
“Sister André was above all a deeply good and endearing woman, devoted to others,” said Falco.
Additionally, Sister André told reporters last year, “Work kept me alive.”
She lived through the administrations of 18 French presidents and 10 popes. Those close to her said she still had vivid memories of world events, including the two world wars. She has said in interviews that she saw many French soldiers who fought in the 1954-1962 Algerian war for independence return traumatized to the hospital where she worked.
“Since I came into the world, I have seen only wars and fights,” Sister André said in an interview as she celebrated her 118th birthday.
Sister André also survived the flu epidemic of 1918-19, which claimed the lives of some 50 million people worldwide.
His surviving Covid-19 in early 2021 was a cautionary tale during the coronavirus pandemic, when nursing homes were particularly at risk. Almost all of the 88 residents at his facility have been infected and several have died.
“It’s hard to imagine anyone born before plastics, zippers, or even bras were patented, was alive and well in the 21st century and tough enough to beat Covid-19,” Craig Glenday, editor of Guinness World Records, said in a statement.
Sister André became the oldest known person in the world after the death of the Japanese Kane Tanaka, who died last year at 119, according to Guinness World Records. With the death of Sister André, the oldest known person, according to the Gerontology Research Group, which validates those believed to be 110 or older, is Maria Branyas Morera. She was born in the United States, lives in Spain and is 115 years old.
Glenday said Sister André was “the fourth oldest person ever verified”.
The French president’s office said in a statement that “she had become for the French a symbol of continuity and resistance, a memory of the century”.
Blind and in a wheelchair during her last years, Sister André sometimes felt lonely and dependent, she told French media.
She was known to be a foodie. For her 117th birthday, she ate foie gras, roasted capon, cheese and a dessert similar to Baked Alaska. And, she said, she enjoyed a little wine and chocolate every day.
“Perhaps his secret to longevity,” Tavella said.
A spokesperson for the retirement home in the southern city of Toulon, where Sister André resided, confirmed the death in an interview with French media.
“Humanity loses its oldest person tonight” Hubert Falcothe city’s mayor, wrote on Twitter.
Sister André has made headlines in recent years for being the world’s oldest known Covid survivor, according to Guinness World Records. She beat the disease with almost no complications when she was about to turn 117.
“She kept telling me, ‘I’m not afraid of Covid because I’m not afraid of dying,'” David Tavella, spokesman for the care home, Ste. Catherine Labouré, said in an interview with The New York Times in 2021.
On Tuesday, Tavella told Agence France-Presse that it was “Sister André’s desire to join her beloved brother”, to whom she was close, in death.
“For her, it’s freedom,” he said.
Born Lucile Randon on February 11, 1904, the year New York City opened its first subway station, Sister André grew up in a Protestant family of six in the southern town of Alès. She worked as a governess in Paris and later converted to Catholicism and was baptized when she was 26. She joined a charitable order about two decades later and took her ecclesiastical title.
Sister André was assigned to a hospital in Vichy, where she cared for orphans and others for three decades.
She was known for her generosity, often helping older people younger than herself.
“Sister André was above all a deeply good and endearing woman, devoted to others,” said Falco.
Additionally, Sister André told reporters last year, “Work kept me alive.”
She lived through the administrations of 18 French presidents and 10 popes. Those close to her said she still had vivid memories of world events, including the two world wars. She has said in interviews that she saw many French soldiers who fought in the 1954-1962 Algerian war for independence return traumatized to the hospital where she worked.
“Since I came into the world, I have seen only wars and fights,” Sister André said in an interview as she celebrated her 118th birthday.
Sister André also survived the flu epidemic of 1918-19, which claimed the lives of some 50 million people worldwide.
His surviving Covid-19 in early 2021 was a cautionary tale during the coronavirus pandemic, when nursing homes were particularly at risk. Almost all of the 88 residents at his facility have been infected and several have died.
“It’s hard to imagine anyone born before plastics, zippers, or even bras were patented, was alive and well in the 21st century and tough enough to beat Covid-19,” Craig Glenday, editor of Guinness World Records, said in a statement.
Sister André became the oldest known person in the world after the death of the Japanese Kane Tanaka, who died last year at 119, according to Guinness World Records. With the death of Sister André, the oldest known person, according to the Gerontology Research Group, which validates those believed to be 110 or older, is Maria Branyas Morera. She was born in the United States, lives in Spain and is 115 years old.
Glenday said Sister André was “the fourth oldest person ever verified”.
The French president’s office said in a statement that “she had become for the French a symbol of continuity and resistance, a memory of the century”.
Blind and in a wheelchair during her last years, Sister André sometimes felt lonely and dependent, she told French media.
She was known to be a foodie. For her 117th birthday, she ate foie gras, roasted capon, cheese and a dessert similar to Baked Alaska. And, she said, she enjoyed a little wine and chocolate every day.
“Perhaps his secret to longevity,” Tavella said.
