A FRENCH NUN has celebrated her 117th birthday after recently surviving a battle with Covid-19.
Lucile Randon was born on February 11, 1904, and took the name of Sister Andre when she joined a Catholic charitable order in 1944.
She's Europe's oldest living person, and the second-oldest person in the world, after Japan's Kane Tanake, who turned 118 last month.
The devout Catholic was treated to a blowout birthday celebration on Thursday, which began with a glass of Port followed by foie gras with hot figs, then roasted capon with mushrooms, progressing to a cheese platter including Roquefort and goat’s cheese enjoyed with a glass or two of red.
Ending her birthday feast in style, Sister Andre then tucked into a raspberry and peach baked Alaska with a glass of Champagne.
Delicious.
Covid-19
She tested positive for coronavirus in her retirement home in Toulon, in the south of France, on January 16.
Soon after she was isolated from other residents, but miraculously displayed no symptoms.
Asked if she was scared to have coronavirus, Sister Andre told France's BFM television, "No, I wasn't 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."
She said she didn't even realise she had caught the virus, which infected 81 residents of her retirement home, sadly killing 10 of them.
"I'm told that I got it," the nun told the AFP news agency.
"I was very tired, it's true, but I didn't realise it," she added.
