Maria da Encarnação Sousa

Maria da Encarnação Sousa on her 113th birthday

**Maria da Encarnação Nunes de Sousa** (20 March 1909 – 20 July 2022) was a Portuguese supercentenarian whose age is validated by LongeviQuest (LQ), and the European Supercentenarian Organisation (ESO). She was the oldest living person in Portugal at the time of her death. She was one of the oldest known survivors of COVID-19, recovering from the disease at the age of 113, and is also the oldest person in Portugal to have contracted and recover from the disease.

## Biography

### Early Life

Maria da Encarnação Nunes de Sousa was born in Tourais, Seia, Guarda District, Portugal on 20 March 1909 to José Simões Nunes and Carlota de Oliveira. She married at the age of 25 and had nine children: two of them died at an early age, and the remaining seven are alive as of January 2021. Later, she moved to the Belgian Congo (present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo). She returned to Portugal in 1969.

### Later Life

Nunes de Sousa lived in the nursing home Centro Social Paroquial Nossa Senhora da Assuncao of Vila Nova de Tazem since the age of 100. She became the oldest known living person from Portugal, following the death of 110-year-old Romana de Sousa Marques on 15 June 2019.

As of January 2021, she had 14 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren.

On 12 January 2021 at the age of 111, she received her first dose of the Pfizer/BionTech vaccine, making her one of oldest people to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Following the death of Albano Andrade on 29 June 2021, she became the last known living person in Portugal born in 1909, as well as in the 1900s decade.

### COVID-19 Survival and after

In April 2022, she had COVID-19 and quickly recovered, making her one of the oldest known survivors of the disease, as well as the oldest person in Portugal to have contracted and survived the disease.

Maria da Encarnação died on 20 July 2022 at the age of 113 years, 122 days, at the hospital of Oliveira do Hospital, Coimbra District, Portugal, where she had been hospitalized for a day. At the time of her death, she was the fifth-oldest living person in Europe, behind Lucile Randon, Tekla Juniewicz, Maria Branyas Morera, and Luise Pompe. She was also the last Portuguese to have been born during the monarchy, as well as the last to have been born in the 1900s decade.

She is currently the third-oldest person ever from Portugal, behind Maria de Jesus and Maria do Couto Maia.

## Gallery

Maria da Encarnação on her wedding day at age 25Maria da Encarnação with her familyMaria da Encarnação on her 107th birthday in 2016Maria da Encarnação on her 111th birthday in 2020Maria da Encarnação being vaccinated against Covid-19 in January2021Maria da Encarnação on her 112th birthday in 2021
## References

* 107th birthday Centro Social Paroquial Nª Sr.ª Assunção on Facebook, 20 March 2016
* A Nossa Tarde (110th birthday) RTP, 7 May 2019
* 111th birthday Centro Social Paroquial Nª Sr.ª Assunção on Facebook, 20 March 2020
* Mulher portuguesa vacinada contra a Covid-19 aos 111 anos Correio da Manha, 13 January 2021
* Covid 19. Mulher com 111 anos vive em Gouveia e já foi vacinada SIC Noticias, 16 January 2021
* 112th birthday Centro Social Paroquial Nª Sr.ª Assunção on Facebook, 20 March 2021
* 113th birthday Centro Social Paroquial Nª Sr.ª Assunção on Facebook, 22 March 2022
* Morreu Encarnação Sousa, a mulher mais velha de Portugal Correio da Manhã, 22 July 2022
* Obituary Funerária Vilanovense V.N.Tazem