Sister André, the 117-year-old French nun who beat COVID earlier this week, celebrated her birthday in style on Thursday.
Sister André started the day with a video call with her great-nephews and great-great nephews, followed by a Mass in her honor led by the local Catholic bishop, David Tavella, the communications manager for the care home in the southern French city of Toulon where she lives, told the Associated Press.
Mass was followed by a feast that included roasted capon with mushrooms and sweet potatoes as the main course, followed by a two-cheese platter–Roquefort, and goat cheese, The New York Times reported. “All of it washed down with red wine, because she drinks red wine. It’s one of her secrets of longevity,” Tavella said.
For dessert, Sister André enjoyed a raspberry and peach flavored Baked Alaska, along with a glass of champagne.
“It made me very, very, very, very happy,” Sister André said. “Because I met all those I love and I thank the heavens for giving them to me. I thank God for the trouble they went to.”
Sister André whose birth name is Lucile Randon is the world’s second oldest person behind Japan’s Kane Tanaka who is 118, according to the Gerontology Research Group.
Sister André tested positive for coronavirus in mid-January but she had so few symptoms that she didn’t even realize she was infected.
She told France’s BFM television, that she was not scared “because I wasn’t scared to die… I’m happy to be with you, but I would wish to be somewhere else – join my big brother and my grandfather and my grandmother.”
When Tavella (who was also celebrating his 43rd birthday on Thursday) talked to her about celebrating her birthday next year, she replied: “I won’t be here next year,” he quoted her as saying, adding: “But she has been saying that for 10 years,” AP reports.
