Sao Paulo, Brazil, Jan 7, 2025 / 16:00 pm
The oldest human being in the world is Sister Inah Canabarro Lucas, a 116-year-old nun from the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul who was born on May 27, 1908.
Sister Inah became the oldest person in the world after the Dec. 29, 2024, death of Tomiko Itooka, a Japanese woman who was 16 days older than Inah. LongeviQuest, a group of researchers specializing in mapping people who are over 100 years old, confirmed the nun is now the world’s oldest person.
“It’s a source of great pride for the Canabarro Lucas family,” her nephew Cleber Vieira Canabarro Lucas, 84, told ACI Digital, CNA’s Portuguese-language news partner, on Jan. 6.
In March 2024, Sister Inah told ACI Digital that one of the secrets of her longevity is prayer: “I pray the rosary every day for everyone in the world.”
Sister Inah currently lives in Porto Alegre in Rio Grande do Sul state in the Santo Enrique de Ossó Shelter, which is next to the Provincial House of the Teresian Sisters of Brazil, a community where in 1927 she was accepted at the age of 19.
According to her nephew, a few days ago Inah had some health problems and the doctors advised her to rest, but now she is fine.
“Logically, the condition of her health at 116 years of age is already a little complicated: She no longer hears well, she has great difficulty speaking, her vision is very poor, but she goes on with her life with the plans that God gave her,” Cleber said.
Sister Inah’s longevity is due to her spirituality, Cleber said, since “she was always a little nun who prayed a lot, prayed a lot; she dedicated herself to prayer all her life.” He also spoke of other characteristics such as “her kindness in always wanting to do good to others, her good humor typical of her personality, her optimism, and her determination in life.”
Inah Canabarro Lucas was born in the São Francisco de Assis district of inner Rio Grande do Sul state on May 27, 1908, the second to last of seven children. According to Cleber, “they were all well fed, they were normal and she was very thin, weak, and her godfather at that time told her father: ‘Friend, don’t get me wrong, but this girl must be sick and get ready because unfortunately I don’t think she will last long’ ... They’re all gone and she is already 116 years old!”
Sister Inah is the great-great-niece of Gen. David Canabarro, one of the main leaders of the Farroupilha Revolution (1835–1845) in Rio Grande do Sul.
When she was a child, one of her siblings told her mother that Inah could study at a convent school in her city. Inah then asked: “What are nuns?” The mother replied that they were women who dedicated themselves to praying to God, and Inah then said: “I’m going to be a nun.”
Inah studied at the convent school and, at the age of 19, she went to make her novitiate with the Teresian sisters in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Over the course of more than a century, she has experienced numerous changes in the world and in the Church. The nun has lived through two world wars and 10 popes. The year she was born, St. Pius X was pope.
As a teaching sister, Inah taught Portuguese, mathematics, science, history, art, and religion in Teresian schools in Rio de Janeiro, Itaqui, and Santana do Livramento, a city where she is much loved because it was where she spent most of her life.
A notable achievement in her life was the creation of the Santa Teresa School marching band in Santana do Livramento. The band featured 115 musical instruments and performed in Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. She also collaborated in the creation of the renowned Pomoli High School marching band in Rivera, Uruguay, sister city of Santana do Livramento.
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Sister Inah has also been an enthusiastic fan of Sport Clube Internacional, a soccer team founded in 1909 when she was 1 year old. Apart from saying that she prays for people around the world, the only other words Sister Inah said to ACI Digital in March of last year were praise for the “Inter” (the soccer team).
“Because it’s the team of the people, good people, poor, very upright, very good.”
This story was first published by ACI Digital, CNA’s Portuguese-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by ACI Prensa/CNA.
