The world's oldest person, French nun Sister André, has died at the age of 118

The world's oldest person, Sister André, has died at the age of 118.

A spokesperson for the French nun's nursing home has confirmed the news.

The representative said: “She died at 2am. There is great sadness but she wanted it, it was her desire to join her beloved brother.

"For her, it’s a release."

She was born on 11 February 1904 under the name Lucile Randon.

Sister André's birth came on the same year that work was started on the Panama Canal, the first underground line of the New York City Subway opened and the third Modern Olympic Games was held.

The Irish Times says the woman then adopted the name Sister André when she joined the Catholic charitable order in 1944.

While she was raised Protestant, she eventually converted to Catholicism at 19.

Nearly two decades later, she became a part of the Daughters of Charity in 1944.

Sister André dedicated her life by working at several hospitals in France before retiring all the way back in 1979.

The Gerontology Research Group’s (GRG) World Supercentenarian Rankings List had Sister André at the top at the time of her death.

Her secret to long life was revealed by a staff member at her care home, who said: "Her glass of wine maintains her and is perhaps her longevity secret. I don’t know – I don’t encourage people to drink a glass of wine everyday!"

Sister André became the oldest person in the world when Japanese woman Kane Tanaka died in April last year at the age of 119.

Tanaka was reportedly the second oldest person to have ever lived.

The eldest person on record is said to be French woman Jeanne Celment, who passed away in 1997 aged 122.

Sister André was keen on overtaking Ms Celment's record, however she sadly hasn't been able to.

The seventh of nine siblings, Kane married when she was 19 and ran a noodle shop after her husband and eldest son went to fight in the Second Sino-Japanese War, which started in 1937.

Kane outlived her husband who passed away in 1993, aged 90.

She was already in her forties when the US tragically dropped two atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Reuters reports María Branyas Morera is now the world’s oldest person at 115 years old.