World’s oldest living person shares secret to long life

Sister Andre is also the oldest survivor of Covid-19 and has now lived through two global pandemics

Sister Andre, Lucile Randon in the registry of birth, the eldest French and European citizen, prays in a wheelchair, on the eve of her 117th birthday (AFP via Getty Images)

A French nun who has been named the oldest living person at the age of 118 years and 73 days old has revealed her secret to a long life.

Lucile Randon, who has been known as Sister Andre since 1944, was confirmed to be the oldest person alive after the previous record holder, Kane Tanak, died on Monday at the age of 119.

According to the Guinness World Records, Sister Andre is also the third-oldest French person and the third-oldest European person ever recorded.

The nun, who survived the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918, also became the oldest survivor of Covid-19 after she tested positive for the virus on 16 January 2021 and recovered three weeks later.

She credits her resilience to having a glass of wine every day.

A staff member from the retirement home Sister Andre has lived in for the past 12 years said: “Her glass of wine maintains her and is perhaps her longevity secret. I don’t know – I don’t encourage people to drink a glass of wine every day!”

Sister Andre also likes to indulge every now and then in sweet treats, particularly chocolate.

She shares her enjoyment of wine and chocolate with another French record-holder, Jeanne Louise Calment, who was the oldest person ever until she died in 1997 at the age of 122 years and 164 days.

Calment, from the Provencal city of Arles, claimed her secret to long life was port, chocolate and olive oil.

During World War II, Sister Andre worked as a teacher and a governess, before going on to work at a hospital in Vichy for 28 years.

She later dedicated her life to religious service and became a Catholic nun. She was made an honorary citizen in Toulon, where she resides, in 2019 and even received a letter from Pope Francis.

Guinness World Records validates the oldest people with the help of Dr Robert D Young, director of the Supercentenarian Research Database Division for the Gerontoloy Research Group in the US.