目指すは１２２歳、世界最高齢となった１１８歳仏修道女

【トゥーロンＡＦＰ＝時事】存命中の世界最高齢となったフランスの修道女リュシル・ランドンさん（１１８）は２６日、史上最高齢記録の１２２歳１６４日よりも長生きしたいと語った。長寿の秘訣（ひけつ）は仕事と他人の世話だという。（写真は南仏トゥーロンにある高齢者施設で、記者団の取材に応じる修道女のリュシル・ランドンさん）
　シスター・アンドレとして知られるランドンさんは、地中海に面する南仏トゥーロンの高齢者施設で暮らす。施設の喫茶室で報道陣の取材に応じ、「仕事に殺されると言う人もいるが、私の場合は仕事に生かしてもらった。１０８歳までずっと働き通しだった」と語った。
　現在は目が見えなくなり車いすで移動する生活だが、以前は自分よりもずっと年下の高齢者の世話をしていた。
　「人は憎み合うべきではなく、助け合い、愛し合うべきです。私たちがこうしたことすべてを共有できれば、世の中はぐっと良くなるでしょう」とランドンさんは述べた。
　ランドンさんは１９０４年、南部アレス生まれ。現在は祈りや食事、他の入所者や施設職員との交流などをしながら日々を過ごしており、絶え間なく届く手紙のほぼすべてに返信している。
　２０２１年には、新型コロナウイルスに感染したが回復。毛髪やＤＮＡサンプルの提供を求められたが、長寿の秘密は「神のみぞ知る」として断っている。
　ランドンさんは、存命中の世界最高齢となったことを「誇りに思う」一方、「年を取るのは良いことではない。以前は他の人の世話をしたり、子どもたちに踊りを教えたりしていたのに、今ではできなくなってしまった」と述べた。
　だがランドンさんは、１９９７年に１２２歳１６４日で亡くなったフランス人女性ジャンヌ・カルマンさんの史上最高齢記録を塗り替えたいと思っている。
　施設のアクティビティー責任者でランドンさんの親友でもあるダビド・タベッラさんによると、ランドンさんは史上最高齢記録は「手の届くところ」にあると考えている。
　タベッラさんはランドンさんについて、「自分の限界に苦しみながらも、膨大な量の祈りをささげて乗り越えてきた」として、史上最高齢記録は「地球にとどまるつもりならば達成したようなものだ」との見方を示した。
　ギネス世界記録は２５日、ランドンさんを存命中の世界最高齢と認定した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/04/28-09:48）

France's Sister Andre, believed to have become the oldest person alive this week at the age of 118, said Tuesday she would now like to beat the record of oldest person ever and that work and caring for others had long kept her spry.
People say that work kills, for me work kept me alive, I kept working until I was 108, the Catholic nun told reporters Tuesday in the tea-room of the hospice where she lives in the Mediterranean city Toulon.
Although she is now blind and gets around in a wheelchair, she used to care for other elderly people much younger than herself.
People should help each other and love each other instead of hating. If we shared all that, things would be a lot better, Sister Andre said.
Fellow nun Sister Therese, almost 89, wheels her to mass in the hospice's little chapel each morning.
She said that Sister Andre had a mission to serve others and that her deep faith helps her keep going.
But the sister, long feted as the oldest European before the death of Japan's Kane Tanaka aged 119 left her the longest-lived person on Earth, is not above a little indulgence.
As Toulon mayor Hubert Falco told her that she was an object of pride and an example to the whole world, she was making sure that he had safely stowed the chocolates and traditional Provence sweets that people had brought for her.
- 'Not nice being old' -
Born Lucile Randon in 1904 in Ales, also in southern France, Sister Andre's days are punctuated by prayer, mealtimes and visits from other residents and hospice workers -- as well as a steady flow of letters, almost all of which she responds to.
Last year, she even survived a Covid-19 infection, becoming a symbol of hope for people from around the world.
But she rejects requests for locks of hair or DNA samples.
Only the good Lord knows the secret of her longevity, she says with a smile.
While she is proud to be the world's oldest person, Sister Andre repeated on Tuesday that it's not nice being old, because I used to like taking care of others, making children dance, and now I can't do that any more.
But she also has a record to beat in mind: that of Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 in Arles, southern France, aged 122 -- the oldest confirmed age reached by any human being so far.
While Sister Andre does suffer from her limitations she prays a huge amount and rises above it all, said David Tavella, an activity leader at the hospice who has become her confidant.
She thinks to herself that Calment's record is within reach, if she's going to stay on Earth, she might as well make it, he added.
Sister Andre's status as the oldest person alive has yet to be confirmed by Guinness World Records, and there is no official institution to bestow the title.
Although other people have come forward saying they are even older than Calment, their claims are difficult to verify because of limited record-keeping in much of the world even in the early 20th century.
But Sister Andre is indeed the oldest by a long way of the confirmed super-centenarians according to French longevity tracker Laurent Toussaint -- the next contender being a Polish woman aged 115.