Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil – On 16 February 2024, the LongeviQuest team had the privilege of visiting Sister (Irmã) Inah Canabarro Lucas, recognizing her as Brazil’s oldest living person and the oldest living nun in the world, and celebrating her life as a nun and her longevity. Ms. Iara Souza, a researcher from Brazil at LongeviQuest, was present to conduct the interview. She began by congratulating Sister Inah, addressing topics and questions about her childhood and her youth as a music band coordinator. Sister Inah also expressed her deep faith in God, stating that praying every day makes her very happy. She emphasized that she prays for everyone.

She was happy to share her experiences of becoming a nun and serving as a music band coordinator. As a result, she had the opportunity to travel to Buenos Aires in Argentina and Montevideo in Uruguay, which clearly filled her with excitement as she reminisced, evoking feelings of nostalgia. Furthermore, when discussing her youth, she was always noted for her firmness, temperance, and rectitude in speech, demeanor, and memory, demonstrating that her memories endure despite nearly a century having passed since those events.

The President of LongeviQuest América, Mr. Fabrizio Villatoro, concluded the interview with questions about her feelings about living a long life and the secret of her longevity. On behalf of the organization, they presented her with two LongeviQuest awards, some flowers as tokens of gratitude, as well as some small religious gifts of Saint Teresa, who was her most cherished saint. She especially highlighted the wooden rosary, which brought her even greater joy during the visit and prompted her to immediately begin praying with it.

Irmã Inah Canabarro currently lives in a provincial house at the Irmãs Teresianas and is often visited by her great-nephews. Her health and vitality are strong, and she remains mentally and physically active despite experiencing sight and hearing problems. Despite these challenges, she is in very good health, enjoys receiving visitors, and used to draw frequently as well.

Irmã Inah Canabarro Lucas is currently the oldest living person in Latin America whose age is fully validated, concurrently holding the title of the oldest living person in Brazil. According to the LongeviQuest global list, Irmã Inah Canabarro is also the 4th-oldest living person in the world, behind María Branyas Morera (Spain), Edie Ceccarelli (USA) and Tomiko Itooka (Japan).

LongeviQuest would like to express our gratitude to Sister Inah Canabarro, her family and the Sisters Teresinas House for granting us permission and the privilege of meeting her. We wish her good health and much happiness, and we eagerly anticipate the opportunity to meet her again.

Biography

Inah Canabarro Lucas was born in Sao Francisco de Assis, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil on 8 June 1908, to parents Joao Antonio Lucas and Mariana Canabarro Lucas. While she has claimed to have been born on 27 May 1908, research found that she was likely born 11 days later. As a child, she was so skinny that many people didn’t think she would survive childhood. She is the great-granddaughter of General David Canabarro. Her father died in combat in 1923.

Canabarro Lucas studied at the Santa Teresa de Jesus boarding school in Santana do Livramento, Rio Grande do Sul. Around 1928, she moved to Montevideo, Uruguay, where she became a nun. In 1930, she returned to Brazil to teach Portuguese and mathematics at a school in Tijuca, a neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro. In the early 1940s, she moved back to Santana do Livramento where she worked as a teacher.

Canabarro Lucas currently lives in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, at the age of 115. At the age of 110, she began having some mobility difficulties and had to start using a walker. On 25 January 2021, at the age of 112, she received her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, making her one of the oldest people to receive the vaccine. She credits her longevity to God.

 

Photography and videography by Carlos Macedo.