Sister Inah Canabarro Lucas dies at 116

The world’s oldest person, Brazilian nun Sister Inah Canabarro Lucas, has died at the age of 116.

Born on 8 June 1908 in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, Inah Canabarro Lucas became a Catholic nun in her early 20s.

Her family said she always celebrated her birthday with a cake in the shape of the stadium of her beloved Sport Club Internacional – Porto Alegre’s football team.

Sister Inah, who was blessed by Pope Francis in 2018, put her longevity down to her faith, saying that “he [God] is the secret to life”. The title of the oldest living person will now pass to 115-year-old Ethel Caterham from Surrey in England.

Sister Inah’s nephew said the 116-year-old had not had any illness but her body “had gradually stopped” working. She died in the city of Porto Alegre at a home belonging to the Teresian Sisters, the religious community she was part of.

A keen football fan, she had celebrated her 116th birthday wearing the scarf of her favourite team.

She also owned several Internacional shirts and even had a collection of pillows adorned with the team’s logo, according to media reports.

Sport Club Internacional posted a message of condolence on X, saying it had learned “with enormous sadness of her passing” and celebrated her life, which it said was based on kindness, faith and love of the football club.

Sister Rita Fernandes Barbosa, a co-ordinator at the religious home where Sister Inah lived, told RBS TV that the 116-year-old had enjoyed good health for most of her life.

Sister Rita said the nun had not had any surgeries until she underwent a cataract operation aged 106.

Her family said that she could not hear or see very well towards the end of her life but that she enjoyed sticking to a routine.

“She liked to get up, eat, and pray and sleep at the same time each day,” her relatives told Brazilian TV.

A fellow Teresian nun said that Sister Inah “never complained”.

“She is very grateful, and good-humoured,” Sister Terezinha Aragon told Brazilian TV in January, when Sister Inah became the world’s oldest person after the death of the previous holder of the title, Japanese woman Tomiko Itooka at the age of 116.

Born on 8 June 1908, Sister Inah had a religious vocation from early on in her life, joining a religious boarding school at the age of 16.

She lived in the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo, for some time before taking her vows but returned to Brazil in 1930, where she taught Portuguese and maths at a school in Rio.

Sister Rita put the 116-year-old’s longevity down to discipline.

“Discipline in her work and in her life, she always worked a lot and was always very sociable and welcoming.”