BIOGRAPHY

Antonia da Santa Cruz was born on a farm that then belonged to Queimadas, near Santaluz, Bahia, Brazil, on 13 June 1905. Her parents were Francisco Pereira de Santa’Anna and Anna Maria de Jesus. She was born on the feast day of Saint Anthony, which was why her parents named her Antonia. She had 11 children. She also adopted her nephew, Jose Luiz Medrado (aged 64 in December 2019).

In 2017, she had 68 grandchildren, 110 great-grandchildren, and 35 great-great-grandchildren. In December 2019, she had a 104-year-old sister living in Rio de Janeiro.

On 18 February 2021, at the age of 115, she received her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. She was the oldest (known) person to receive the vaccine until Kane Tanaka received it around September 2021.

Antonia da Santa Cruz lived with her 82-year-old daughter, Maria Medrado in Salgadalia, Conceicao do Coite, Bahia, Brazil, where she died of natural causes on 23 January 2022 at the age of 116 years, 224 days.

RECOGNITION

She became the oldest validated living person in Brazil, as well as the third-oldest living validated person in the world, after the death of Francisca Celsa dos Santos on 5 October 2021.

ATTRIBUTION

GALLERY