Sister André, a nun born in 1904, tested positive for the virus on January 16, according to David Tavella, director of communication for the Sainte Catherine Labouré health care facility in Toulon, southern France, where she lives.
André, who was born Lucille Randon, showed no symptoms, Tavella said in an interview with the public radio station France Inter.
“I didn’t know I had it,” said André in an interview with BFMTV, a CNN affiliate. “No, I was not afraid because I was not afraid to die.”
André is preparing to celebrate his 117th birthday on Thursday, and Tavella told France Inter that his favorite birthday meal includes foie gras and roasted Alaska.
“Sister André’s birthday is happening at a good time – it couldn’t be better, as it will mark the beginning of great festivities that will be organized around this relaxation of our restrictions”, said Tavella to BFMTV. “Our residents will be able to leave their rooms, eat together, participate in activities”.
André worked as a housekeeper and teacher, teaching children to be “very polite”, she told French TV channel CNEWS.
She lived through two world wars, as well as the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 – she told CNEWS that she did not catch the deadly virus – and remains philosophical about the coronavirus.
“It comes and goes,” she told BFMTV. “I do not know.”
André became the oldest living person in France in October 2017 after Honorine Rondello’s death, and is the second oldest French person of all time, after Jeanne Calment, who lived to 122 years.