Inah Canabarro Lucas – Gerontology Research Group

Lifespan: 08.06.1908
Age: 116 years
Last residence: Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Validation date: 08.06.2022
Validation source: Josemara Rocha/Robert Young/Ricardo Pereira Lago/Tiago Jose Silva/Gerson Dias/Irma Lucia Bassotto

Inah Canabarro Lucas was born on June 8, 1908, in Sao Francisco de Assis, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (although she claims her birthday is May 27). Her parents were Joao Antonio Lucas and Mariana Canabarro Lucas. Despite being extremely thin as a child, many doubted she would survive past the age of seven. She was the great-granddaughter of General David Canabarro. In 1923, her father died in combat.

Canabarro Lucas attended the Santa Teresa de Jesus boarding school in Santana do Livramento, Rio Grande do Sul. Around 1928, she moved to Montevideo, Uruguay, and later became a nun. She returned to Brazil in 1930 and taught Portuguese and mathematics in Tijuca, a neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro. In the early 1940s, she moved back to Santana do Livramento and worked as a teacher.

Later Life
Currently residing in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, Canabarro Lucas is 115 years old (although she claims 115 years and 158 days). At 110, she began experiencing mobility issues and started using a walker. On January 25, 2021, at the age of 112, she received her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, becoming one of the oldest people to do so. She attributes her long life to her faith in God.

Following the passing of Antonia da Santa Cruz on January 23, 2022, Canabarro Lucas became the oldest verified living person in Brazil. She also became the oldest verified living person in both South and Latin America after Colombian Sofia Rojas’ death on July 30, 2022.

In January 2022, at 113 years and 208 days old, Canabarro Lucas surpassed Luzia Mohrs to become the oldest Brazilian ecclesiastical figure ever.

In October 2022, Canabarro Lucas contracted COVID-19 while hospitalized but managed to recover in November, making her one of the oldest known survivors of the disease.

After Lucile Randon’s passing on January 17, 2023, Canabarro Lucas became the oldest living nun in the world and the fifth-oldest living person worldwide, validated by the GRG, after Maria Branyas Morera, Fusa Tatsumi, Edie Ceccarelli, and Tomiko Itooka.

On her 115th birthday in June 2023, Dr. Angelo Jose Goncalves Bos, the newly-appointed GRG Correspondent for Brazil, visited Canabarro Lucas and presented her with the official GRG plaque, recognizing her as the oldest living person in South America. According to GRG research, she is the fifth supercentenarian in South America to reach the age of 115, following Maria Capovilla of Ecuador (1889–2006), Francisca Celsa dos Santos of Brazil (1904–2021), Antonia da Santa Cruz of Brazil (1905–2022), and Casilda Benegas de Gallego of Paraguay/Argentina (1907–2022).