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“My whole mind is God,” Sister Francis Dominici Piscatella said
NEED TO KNOW
- Sister Francis Dominici Piscatella is gearing up to celebrate her 113th birthday on April 20
- “I really never thought I would get to be that age,” she said in a new interview
- She credits her long life to faith — and teaching
A Long Island woman who is believed to be the world's oldest nun is getting ready to turn 113.
"I really never thought I would get to be that age," Sister Francis Dominici Piscatella said during an interview with local Fox affiliate WNYW ahead of her birthday on Monday, April 20.
Born in 1913, Piscatella has spent over 90 years serving the Catholic Church, joining the Dominican order when she was 17, according to Guinness World Records.
However, before she joined the Amityville Dominicans, she was turned away from several religious communities due to the fact that the majority of her left forearm was amputated due to an injury she had with a passing train when she was 2, per the Catholic News Service.
But as she told the outlet, she was always confident about what she brought to the table.
"Nobody has ever had to help me,” she said. “If anyone was helping somebody, it was I helping them. When I went to the convent, I had to prove to my superiors that there was nothing I couldn't do.”
In fact, she began her life with the Dominicans by proving just how big of a help she could be: taking on a teaching position that was just opening up thanks to another nun's departure.
“The priest said, ‘Well, can she teach?' And the sister said, ‘Oh, she's a great teacher,' ” Sister Francis Kammer, a close friend and former student of Piscatella's, told the New York Post last year.
“And he said, ‘Then she stays.' And she never looked back," she added.
Piscatella kept teaching, taking on various subjects in Catholic schools until she retired at the age of 84.
In fact, when asked what the secret to her longevity was last year, she told the Post, "Teach until you die."
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Of course, Piscatella has also spent decades finding strength through her unwavering faith.
“My whole mind is God,” she said. “He has kept me going all these years.”