Prayer and football: The secrets of the new oldest person in the world
According to the Gerontology Research Group (GRG) in the United States and LongeviQuest, Brazilian Teresian Sister Inah Canabarro Lucas has become the oldest living person in the world. She was born in June 1908 and is 116 years old.
“My secret, my great secret, is to pray. I pray the rosary every day for all the peoples of the world.” This is how Brazilian Sister Inah Canabarro Lucas, then 115 years old, explained the secret of her longevity and cheerful disposition in an article by ACI Digital. According to the Gerontology Research Group (GRG) and LongeviQuest, Sister Inah, a member of the Society of St. Teresa of Jesus, also known as the Teresian Sisters, became the oldest person in the world after the death of Japanese woman Tomiko Itooka, who died at the age of 116 on December 29, 2024.
Nun and teacher
Sister Inah was born in June 1908 in São Francisco de Assis in southern Brazil and was the sixth of seven children. While she claimed to have been born on May 27, 1908, research established that she was actually born 11 days later. “As a child, she was so thin that many people thought she wouldn’t survive childhood,” said the GRG in a statement.
Sister Inah is also the great-granddaughter of General David Canabarro (1796–1867), a politician and military leader who participated in the War of the Farrapos, a republican rebellion. She now lives at the Congregation of the Teresian Sisters of Brazil headquarters in Porto Alegre.
She studied at the Santa Teresa de Jesus boarding school in Santana do Livramento before moving to Montevideo, Uruguay, around 1928, where she became a nun. In 1930, she returned to Brazil to teach Portuguese and mathematics at a school in Tijuca, a neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro. Then, in the early 1940s, she returned to Santana do Livramento, where she worked as a teacher.
"Always focused on others"
In the interview with ACI Digital, Sister Lúcia Ignez Bassotto, who lives with Sister Inah at the retirement home, said the 116-year-old nun “is always focused on others and not on herself.” She is “a very resilient person, not demanding, who appreciates everything, who thinks everything is fine. She prays for everyone; she cares about everyone.” Her nephew described her as “strict and disciplined” and “a loving teacher who wins everyone over.”
Another notable trait of the nun is her passion for football. She is an ardent supporter of Sport Club Internacional, a football club founded in 1909 when she was one year old, whose motto is “O Clube do Povo” (“The People's Club”).