Daughter of Charity Sister André Randon just turned 116.
She is the oldest person in Europe and the second-oldest person in the world. 117-year-old Japanese woman Kane Tanaka is the only person to surpass her in age.
Born Lucile Randon on Feb. 11, 1904, Sr. André converted to Catholicism at age 19. At age 25, she began caring for elderly and orphans at a French hospital. She later entered the Daughters of Charity at age 40.
Although she joined the convent late in life, her vocation has lasted for 76 years!
Sr. André moved in 2009 to Sainte-Catherine Labouré retirement home in Toulon, France, where she spent her 116th birthday with family and friends.
Additionally, for her 115th birthday, Pope Francis sent her a personal letter, along with a blessed Rosary.
Sr. Andre’s Secret
Her secret recipe for happiness?
“Pray and drink a cup of chocolate every day.”
She also said her “daily happiness is being able to go and pray.”
Although blind and in a wheelchair, Sr. André never loses her sense of humor and always asks for prayers, saying that she “hopes God won’t be too slow to let her wait any longer…”