Inah Canabarro Lucas is now recognized as both the oldest living woman and the oldest living person after Tomiko Itooka’s passing
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Inah Canabarro Lucas, a 116-year-old nun from Brazil, has become the world’s oldest person.
On Saturday, Jan. 4, Guinness World Records declared that Lucas is now recognized as both the oldest living woman and the oldest living person after Tomiko Itooka’s passing.
Although Itooka died on Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024 at the age of 116 at her nursing home in Ashiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, her death was not confirmed by LongeviQuest until Jan. 4. Itooka had held the the title of oldest living woman and oldest living person since August 2024.
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Lucas told LongeviQuest that she attributes her longevity to the Lord. “He is the secret of life. He is the secret of everything,” she said.
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She also describes football as one of her biggest passions. She said she is a supporter of Sport Club Internacional because it represents the people. “Whether rich or poor, it doesn’t matter — it’s for the people!”
According to Guinness World Records, Lucas was born on June 8, 1908, in São Francisco de Assis in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Her religious education began when she studied at the Santa Teresa de Jesus boarding school in Santana do Livramento, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in December 1928.
Lucas moved to Montevideo, Uruguay, where she was confirmed in the Catholic Church in October 1929 at the age of 21, per LongeviQuest, before returning to Brazil to teach Portuguese and mathematics at a school in Tijuca, a neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, in 1930.
According to LongeviQuest, she took her vows to become a nun in July 1934 at the age of 26 and began working as a teacher in Santana do Livramento in the early 1940s.
She worked in Itaqui for over a decade, beginning in February 1949, before returning to Santana do Livramento in March 1961, where she worked as a professor and secretary. In March 1979, she returned to Itaqui to work as a teacher before taking a position at the Provincial House in Porto Alegre in February 1980, per LongeviQuest. She retired in 1995.
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In 2018, on her 110th birthday, Lucas, who is also the oldest living nun in the world, was honored with an apostolic blessing from Pope Francis, per Guinness World Records.
