PARIS >> Question: How do you throw enough candles on a birthday cake for one of the world’s oldest survivors of COVID-19? Answer: With 117 candles you can not.
A French nun who is believed to be the second oldest person in the world celebrated her 117th birthday in style today, with multiple treats, wishes, cards and flowers to promote her exceptionally long life through two world wars and a recent coronavirus infection.
Sister André also received a mass in her honor and a feast with Champagne, red wine and port. Then came an afternoon nap followed by even more festivities, including an afternoon-baked Alaska, her favorite dessert.
“It made me very, very, very, very happy,” the birthday girl said. ‘Because I met everyone I love and I thank heaven that they gave it to me. I thank God for the effort they went through. ”
Sister André’s big day began with a morning video call with her cousins and old people, followed by a mass in honor of the local Catholic bishop, said David Tavella, communications manager for the care center in the south. . French city of Toulon where the nun lives.
Her birthday party included an appetizer of foie gras, followed by capon with fragrant mushrooms. ‘It all washed down with red wine, because she drinks red wine. “This is one of her secrets of longevity,” Tavella told The Associated Press. There was also port and champagne ‘because 117 years have to be roasted’, he said.
She skipped dessert because she was tired, but later got it served to her after an afternoon nap – with three candles and the figure 117 on top.
Packing 117 candles would have been impossible.
“We stopped trying for a long time,” Tavella said. ‘Even if we were to make big cakes, I’m not sure she would get enough breath to blow everyone out. You need a fire extinguisher. ‘
Sister André’s birth name is Lucile Randon. The Gerontology Research Group, which confirms details of people believed to be 110 years or older, names her as the second oldest known living person in the world, behind only a 118-year-old woman in Japan, Kane Tanaka.
Tavella told French media earlier this week that Sister André had tested positive for the coronavirus in mid-January, but she had so few symptoms that she did not even realize she was infected. Her survival made headlines in France and beyond.
‘When the whole world suddenly started talking about this story, I understood that Sister André was a bit like an Olympic flame on a global tour that wants to grab people, because we all need a little hope right now, Said Tavella.
When Tavella spoke to her on Thursday about celebrating her next birthday in 2022, she replied, “I will not be here next year,” he quoted her as saying, “But she’s been saying that for ten years.”
Coincidentally, Tavella celebrated his 43rd birthday on Thursday.
“We often joke that she and I were born on the same day,” he said. ‘I never tell myself she’s 117 because she’s so easy to talk to, regardless of her age. Only when she talks about the First World War as if she had been through it do I realize, ‘Yes, she went through it!’