The oldest person in the world, the Brazilian nun Inah Canabarro Lucas, died on Wednesday at the age of 116, since he barely survived childhood and attributed his long life to God, his order and two longevity trackers said.
The title now goes to Ethel Caterham, a resident of Surrey, England, who is 115 years old, according to the United States Gerontological Research Group (GRG) and the Longeviquest database.
Born on June 8, 1908, Canabarro became the oldest person in the world after death in January of the Japanese woman Tomiko Itoka, who was also 116 years old.
The Congregation of the Teresian sisters of Brazil in Porto Alegre announced the death of Canabarro on Wednesday in a statement in which he gave thanks “for the dedication and devotion” he had demonstrated in life.
Longeviquest, in an obituary, said Canabarro had been a fragile child, and “many doubted that he would survive.”
He became a nun in 1934 at the age of 26, among World Wars I and II.
Canabarro had attributed his longevity to God, saying: “He is the secret of life. He is the secret of everything,” according to Longeviquest.
For his 110 birthday, he received a blessing from Pope Francis, who died last Monday at age 88.
Although he had affirmed that his date of birth was on May 27, 1908, “his date of birth documented according to the records is June 8, 1908,” said GRG director Robert Young, at AFP in January.
Longeviquest said that Canabarro had been the 15th oldest documented person in history, and the second oldest nun after Lucile Randon in France, who lived until 118 and died in 2023.
