Sister Rosario Soto, the oldest living nun in Europe, passed away yesterday at 7:00 a.m. local time in Santander, Cantabria, Spain, at the age of 112 years, 149 days.
Rosario Soto was born in Gijón, Asturias, Spain on 3 March 1914. She spent a lot of years educating and training students at the Concerted College Handmaids of the Sacred Heart (Spanish: Esclavas del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús) in Santander. She discovered her religious vocation at the age of 26. She later explained that it had taken her so long because she did not want to leave her youngest sister alone at home while she was still too young to manage on her own.
She lived between Oviedo and Bilbao and completed her postulancy and novitiate in Loyola and Azpeitia. She was eventually assigned to Oviedo, where she lived between González del Valle and another house on the outskirts of the city, training to become a teacher. During the Spanish Civil War, she was transferred elsewhere, but upon returning to Oviedo, she devoted herself to teaching children. At nearly 60 years of age, she left the classroom and began working as a receptionist.
On 7 October 2025, following the passing of 111-year-old Maria Helena Saraiva (Sister Aguiar) of Portugal, she became the oldest known living nun in Europe.
At the time of her passing, she was the second-oldest known living nun in the world, after America’s Francis Piscatella (Sister Dominici), and the third-oldest (known) living person in Spain, after Teresa Fernandez Casado and Felicidad Hernández Corredera.
We extend our heartfelt condolences to the family and loved ones of Sister Rosario Soto during this difficult time.
