http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40010878/ns/world_news-americas/?gt1=43001

A French nun who was considered the world's oldest person died Thursday on the Caribbean island of St. Barthelemy at the age of 114, the French government said.

Eugenie Blanchard, who friends called "Sweets" because of her kindness, died at around 3 a.m. at Bruyn Hospital, where she had lived in the geriatric ward since 1980, said hospital director Pierre Nuty.

Cousin Armelle Blanchard said that while Blanchard could no longer talk, she had seemed to be in relatively good health.

"When you talked to her, she would smile," she said. "We don't know if she understood us."

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After returning from Curacao, she lived in a quaint house in the Merlette district with a cat as her only companion, her cousin said.

France's junior minister for senior citizens, Nora Berra, said Blanchard devoted her life to God and to others.

"Eugenie Blanchard, who dedicated herself to help those who are most fragile, was a lovely and generous example of France," Berra said in a statement.

According to the U.S.-based Gerontology Research Group, which maintains a registry of the world's oldest people, Blanchard became the oldest person alive on May 2, when Kama Chinen of Japan died at age 114, only days before she would have turned 115. The Guinness Book of World Records also recognized Blanchard as the world's oldest person.

Blanchard's death makes Eunice Sanborn of the United States, born on July 20, 1896 in Louisiana, the oldest person alive, according to the same registry. Sanborn lives in Texas.