NORTH AMITYVILLE — This religious sister has nothing to prove, especially now that she is the world’s oldest.

Sister Francis Dominici Piscatella, a member of the Sisters of St. Dominic of Amityville, celebrated her 112th birthday on
Easter Sunday, April 20.

Ten days later, she became the longest-living religious sister on the planet.

That distinction was previously held by Sister Inah Canabarro Lucas, who died on April 30, age 116, at her home in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Since then, reporters from across Long Island and beyond have interviewed Sister Francis at her home, the Queen of Rosary Motherhouse in North Amityville.

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Sister Francis, a retired algebra and math teacher, graciously received the visitors. She responded to their questions with keen lucidity and an unassuming deadpan delivery.

“It feels OK to be 112, but if you really think about it, I would like to be much younger,” she said. “I would like to be the youngest sister in the world, not the oldest.”

Sister Francis, born Ursula “Lee” Piscatella in Central Islip, Long Island, has witnessed the elections of 19 U.S. presidents.

Woodrow Wilson was in office when she was born in 1913. Later came the first and second Catholic commanders in chief, John F. Kennedy and Joe Biden, and the first black president, Barack Obama. She also got two doses of the first celebrity president, Donald
Trump.

Her lifespan includes two world wars and the election of 11 popes, including Pope Leo XIV on May 8.

However, even though Sister Francis has nothing to prove now, that was not the case when she tried to enter the religious life at age 17.

Fifteen years earlier, she lost part of her left forearm in an accident. Many religious communities thought she couldn’t serve with only one full arm.

“You have to work when you go to the convent,” she said. “It’s not a vacation area.”

But Sister Francis learned early how to fend for herself and take care of others despite her disability.

“My mother made me completely independent,” she said. “She never let anyone help me. Whatever a person with two hands could do, I could do. I’ve lived a normal life.”

In 1930, the Sisters of St. Dominic took her under consideration, but with a simple test. They told her to open a large window, which
she did with ease, despite not having a left hand.

“It used to be a big laugh with my group that entered at that time,” Sister Francis recalled. “I said, ‘I’m here because I can open a window.’”

Still, family and friends of this humble supercentenarian sister say her legacy is decades spent as a classroom teacher. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education. With her mathematical aptitude, she was a good fit to teach high school math and algebra.

Sister Francis also taught math at Molloy Catholic College (now Molloy University) in Rockville Centre. She retired in 1998 at the age of 85.

“I was a good teacher and I was a very good teacher to students that needed extra help,” she said. “This is not pride really.” Instead, she said, it was God who equipped her to teach, and to love her students as a spiritual mother.

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Among them is Sister Francis Daniel Kammer, who was one of her students decades ago and who now looks after her.

“She’s loyal, she’s faithful, she’s prayerful,” Sister Francis Daniel said. “She’s human. She’s the best friend you could ever have.

“Thick or thin, she stays by you.”

Sister Francis Daniel described how Sister Francis had a “terrible brain bleed” 10 years ago.

“They thought that she was never going to walk again or talk again, and here she is walking and talking,” Sister Francis Daniel said.

Despite her 112 years on Earth, Sister Francis has only one explanation for her longevity. God simply hasn’t yet called her home, so she spends her days praying for others and learning skills, like operating a computer.

“There’s no secret about it at all,” she said. “When God wants me, he’ll take me.”