Inah Canabarro Lucas is a Brazilian Catholic nun. A member of the Congregation of the Teresian Nuns, Lucas was active throughout the 20th and 21st centuries in the fields of religious education teaching and spiritual service. As of 2025 she is recorded as the oldest living person and the oldest nun in the world. She died on 30 April 2025 in Porto Alegre Brazil at the age of 116 and passed on the title of the world’s oldest living person to Ethel Caterham.

Inah Canabarro Lucas (LongeviQuest)

Birth and Family

Inah Canabarro Lucas was born on 8 June 1908 in São Francisco de Assis Rio Grande do Sul. Her father was João Antônio Lucas (1870–1923) and her mother was Mariana Canabarro Lucas (1878–1954). Although official records list her birth date as 8 June Lucas later claimed that she was actually born on 27 May. She was the sixth of seven siblings. It has been reported that during her childhood she was physically frail and that concerns existed within the family regarding her life expectancy. Her lineage traces back to General David Canabarro a prominent military leader in the Farroupilha Revolution (1835–1845).

Educational and Religious Life

She began her religious education at the age of 16 at the Santa Teresa de Jesus boarding school. She was baptized on 21 April 1926 at the age of 17. Her formal entry into the Catholic community was completed with confirmation in Montevideo Uruguay on 1 October 1929. She returned to Brazil in 1930 and began working as a Portuguese and mathematics teacher at a school in Tijuca. On 27 July 1934 she took her perpetual vows and became a nun.

Inah Canabarro Lucas in her youth (LongeviQuest)

Inah Canabarro Lucas taught at Teresian schools in Rio de Janeiro Itaqui and Santana do Livramento. She served for an extended period in Santana do Livramento beginning in 1942. She was first assigned to Itaqui in 1949 and remained there for more than ten years before returning to Santana do Livramento in 1961. She was reassigned to Itaqui in 1979 and in 1980 was posted to the State Home in Porto Alegre.

Until the age of 110 Lucas largely maintained her physical independence after which she began using a walker. Despite her advanced age she never suffered from any serious illness. At the age of 112 she received her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in 2021 and recovered from a COVID-19 infection in 2022 with medical treatment.

Inah Canabarro Lucas on her 115th birthday (LongeviQuest)

Official Titles

On 2 January 2022 at the age of 113 she surpassed Luzia Mohrs to become Brazil’s oldest recorded religious figure. Later that year on 23 January following the death of Antonia da Santa Cruz she was declared Brazil’s oldest living person. On 30 July 2022 after the death of Sofia Rojas from Colombia she became the oldest person in South America. On 29 December 2024 following the death of Tomiko Itooka of Japan she was officially recognized by LongeviQuest as the World’s Oldest Living Person. She held this title until her death. She was honored with an apostolic blessing from Pope Francis on her 110th birthday.

A photograph of Inah Canabarro Lucas at age 110 (LongeviQuest)

Cultural Ties and Sports

She was known for her strong connection to the Porto Alegre-based football club Sport Club Internacional. Every year she celebrated her birthday with a cake shaped like the club’s stadium. She owned personal items such as scarves pillows and jerseys bearing the team’s insignia. She spent her 116th birthday wearing the team’s scarf. The club issued a message of condolence following her death.

Death

Inah Canabarro Lucas died on 30 April 2025 in Porto Alegre Brazil at the age of 116. At the time of her death she was 116 years and 326 days old. No specific illness was cited as the cause of death; it was described as the natural decline of bodily functions due to advanced age. At the time of her death she was residing in a shelter operated by the Congregation of the Teresian Nuns in Porto Alegre. Following her death the title of the world’s oldest living person passed to Ethel Caterham of England.

Inah Canabarro Lucas’s death was reported by local and international media outlets. Catholic news agencies noted that she had witnessed the papacies of ten popes and that her birth year coincided with the papacy of Pope Pius X. It was also emphasized that she lived until the funeral of Pope Francis. She is said to have witnessed all the political social and theological transformations that occurred from the beginning of the 20th century through the second quarter of the 21st century both within the Church and globally.