Lucile Randon who took the name Sister Andre
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)The world’s oldest person, French nun Sister Andre, has died at the aged of 118.
Lucile Randon, who took the name of Sister Andre when she joined a Catholic charitable order in 1944, had survived Covid last year.
She was born on February 11, 1904, and was the world’s oldest living person according to the Gerontology Research Group’s (GRG) World Supercentenarian Rankings List.
Her retirement home near Toulon confirmed her death to Reuters on Tuesday.
Before becoming a Catholic nun, she looked after children during World War II and then spent 28 years caring for orphans and elderly people at a hospital.
“People say that work kills, for me work kept me alive, I kept working until I was 108,” the Catholic nun had previously said.
When she turned 118 in 2022, the nun received a handwritten birthday note from French President Emmanuel Macron – the 18th French president of her lifetime. There have also been 10 different Popes presiding over the Catholic Church since she was born.
She became the world’s eldest following the death of Kane Tanaka, a Japanese woman previously certified as the world’s oldest person, who died at the age of 119 on April 19.
She died in her sleep at her nursing home, spokesman David Tavella said.
“There is great sadness but... it was her desire to join her beloved brother. For her, it’s a liberation,” Mr Tavella, of the Sainte-Catherine-Laboure nursing home, said.
The title of the oldest person ever recorded also belongs to a French woman.
Born on February 21, 1875, Jeanne Louise Calment’s life spanned 122 years and 164 days, according to the Guinness World Records.
