Sister André was also regarded as the oldest COVID-19 survivor after an infection in 2021.
The world's oldest woman is dead.
Sister André, a French Nun listed as the oldest person alive by the Gerontology Research Group in April 2022 died at the age 118.
Sister André was also regarded as the oldest COVID-19 survivor after an infection in 2021.
Sister André dies in the southern French city of Toulon, the city’s mayor Hubert Falco said on Wednesday.
She was born in the southern French town of Ales on Feb. 11, 1904, as Lucile Randon and worked as a home teacher before her entrance into the religious community in her early 40s.
She has been confined to a wheelchair, and for several years she could no longer see properly.
She was an honorary citizen of Toulon, where she lived in a retirement home for several years.
Falco praised her as incredibly modern and a nun with a big heart.
Guinness World Records said Lucile, who took the name of Sister André in 1944, was the second-oldest French person and the second-oldest European person ever recorded.
“It’s difficult to fathom that someone born before the patenting of plastic, zips or even bras were alive well into the 21st century, and robust enough to beat COVID-19,’’
The Guinness World Records editor, Craig Glenday said in a statement.
“It’s been an honour to record her story in the pages of the Guinness World Records book, and she will live on in history as the fourth oldest person ever authenticated.’’
With her death, Maria Branyas Morera, who lived in Spain, assumed the title of the world’s oldest person at age 115. (Dpa/NAN)