Sister Francis Piscatella walked into a chapel in Amityville on Thursday to mark her 110th birthday, and showed she still has a sharp sense of humor.
When asked by reporters how it felt to be the oldest living nun in the United States, the Central Islip native quipped, “Well, I wish I was the youngest.”
Piscatella became the oldest religious sister in December when 111-year-old Sister Vincent de Paul Hutton died in Kentucky, according to the Gerontology Research Group, an organization that tracks centenarians worldwide.
On Thursday, The Dominican Sisters of Amityville, the religious order Piscatella entered in 1931, hosted a news conference, a Mass, and a luncheon at its headquarters to mark her 110th birthday. Piscatella has spent 92 years as a nun.
Piscatella was born in 1913 when Woodrow Wilson was president and has survived two pandemics, including the 1918 Spanish flu. A longtime educator, she suffered a serious childhood injury that left her disabled for life, and has at least one brush with death. She said part of the secret to her longevity is her devotion to God.
“My prayer life is very important to me,” she said. “And I guess that keeps me going.”
Sister Patricia Koehler, a member of the congregation’s leadership team, said Piscatella’s long life is simply “a gift that God has given her. We’ve been just blessed to have her in our congregation as a model of faithfulness.”
Piscatella is able to get around without a wheelchair, walker or cane, goes to Mass at a local parish daily, and starts her day with 35 minutes of prayer before breakfast. She lives in an apartment in East Williston with a former student who was inspired by her to become a nun, Sister Francis Daniel Kammer, 83.
Piscatella has had a lifelong disability and faced other setbacks, but said she never let them slow her down. At the age of 2, her left forearm was amputated due to a train accident. Years later she shattered her right arm in a car crash, and at age 102 she suffered a near-fatal brain bleed after falling. She’s also had a hip replacement.
As a teenager, several religious orders rejected Piscatella's application to join them because of her disability, but she said she feels blessed to be with the Dominicans.
“I’ve had a lot of obstacles in my life and I have overcome them as well as I should,” she said. “I had a very good mother who … certainly knew how to bring up a handicapped daughter. She made me completely independent. The miracle is I am able to do everything that everybody else does. I’m not any different. I’m just normal.”
Piscatella earned bachelor's and master's degrees at St. John's University. She spent decades as an educator, capitalizing on an aptitude for math as she reached thousands of students. She taught at Catholic grammar schools in the Diocese of Brooklyn, Dominican Commercial High School in Queens, and finally for a half-century at Dominican-founded Molloy College (now university) in Rockville Centre.
She retired at age 84.
Some of her former students were on hand Thursday to congratulate her. Two are in their 90s themselves.
“We just loved her,” said Sister Margaret Schmit, 93. “She didn’t just preach God, she lived God, and you had to admire her. She’s been my model 75 years.”
Piscatella said she was thrilled with the celebration, and happy to be alive.
“I’m grateful," she said. “I’m happy that I am able to think and talk and meet all these people."