Sister Andre (née Lucile Randon)
Sister Andre (née Lucile Randon) became a nun when she was 40 years old, 21 years after converting to Catholicism.
To film her, we traveled to her nursing home in Toulon — in the South of France — where Sister Andre has lived since 2009 among other retired nuns. We spent the day with her and her nephew Philippe and his wife in the nursing home garden and celebrating Mass.
In addition to once holding the Guinness record for being the oldest person in the world, Sister Andre holds the record for being the oldest survivor of COVID-19. In January 2021, she and 80 other residents in the nursing home tested positive for the virus. While ten other residents died as a result of their infections, Sister Andre tested negative in time to celebrate her 117th birthday with red wine and Baked Alaska.
Before she passed, Sister Andre made it clear that she was not afraid to die. In fact, she was ready to move on. “I wish to be somewhere else,” she said.