Sister Inah Canabarro Lucas, believed to be the world’s oldest living person, has died at the age of 116. Her passing was confirmed Wednesday by her religious order, the Congregation of the Teresian Sisters, and longevity researchers.
Born on June 8, 1908, Lucas became the world’s oldest person in January following the death of Japan’s Tomiko Itooka, who was also 116. Lucas died in Porto Alegre, where she had spent her final years in the care of her religious community.
“Our congregation is deeply grateful for Sister Inah’s life of dedication, faith, and humility,” the Teresian Sisters said in a statement.
Lucas entered religious life in 1934 at the age of 26 and was widely admired for her spiritual devotion. Despite being born frail and not expected to survive infancy, she lived more than a century—often attributing her longevity to her faith.
“He is the secret of life. He is the secret of everything,” she once said, referring to God.
In 2018, Pope Francis honoured her 110th birthday with a papal blessing. The pontiff died last week at age 88.
Though Lucas believed her birthdate to be May 27, 1908, researchers verified it as June 8 of that year. “Her documented birth date, according to records, is June 8, 1908,” confirmed Robert Young, director of the Gerontology Research Group.
According to the global longevity database LongeviQuest, Lucas ranks as the 15th-oldest verified person in history and the second-oldest nun ever, after France’s Lucile Randon, who lived to 118.
With Lucas’s death, 115-year-old Ethel Caterham of Surrey, England, is now recognized as the world’s oldest living person.
