Father Jacques Clemens World’s Oldest Priest At 105

World’s oldest priest is 105 years of age and has been holding mass for the past 78 years, and he has no plans to retire. Meet father Jacques Clemens, who turned 105 young on July 11th and officially took the title of the oldest priest in the world. The priest of the St Benoit church in Nalinnes-Bultia, Belgium claimed that the secret to long life is to have a strict eating and sleeping schedule.

Father Jacques Clemens who is 105 years old, said that he is honored to hold the title of world’s oldest priest.

He is followed by an unnamed Italian priest who is barely 95. The priest was born on July 11th, 1909 in The Hague in the Netherlands.

He survived World War I and World War II, but faced many illnesses between 1914 and 1945, which is one of the reasons why he is surprised that is able to live so long.

The very active priest has been a Catholic since he can remember. He went to a very strict religious school until the age of six and walked several miles every week to get to the house of the Lord.

Clemens originally planned on becoming a teacher, but the priest of his church had another vision.

He was told by the religious man to move to Belgium and build a church because the tiny European country needed more Catholics to deliver the holy message.

Despite knowing nothing about Belgium and not speaking a word of French, he obeyed the voice of God and entered the religious order of Canons Regular of the Lateran in 1931.

After 5 years of studying theology, Latin, and French, he was ordained priest on July 5, 1936 by the bishop of Liege, Bishop Kerkhofs.

At 105, the priest has an amazing memory and remembers almost every detail about his extraordinary life. He told reporters that 35 men became priests that day and they had a great celebration from 6 AM till 12.

Asked what is the secret to long life, the priest replied by saying that he is disciplined and consistent. He wakes up every day at 5, has lunch and dinner at the same time and goes to bed early every night.

He often rides his bike. The world’s oldest priest loves to drive around and chat with other Christians about the word of God.

He is very independent, but a nurse does check on him every day. The priest holds mass every Sunday at the St Benoit church starting at 9 AM.

He built the church on October 13, 1957 thanks to a large donation. The 90 people who attend service every week say that the priest is a monument.

In 2011, he thought he would be forced to retire after a bad fall, but after several weeks in the hospital, he was back on his feet and preaching the word of God.

Here are few facts about world’s oldest priest, before being ordained he did get to live his dream of being a teacher in Holland, he was surprised when he received when he received about half of a million francs to start the construction of his church.

And he was sent to Belgium because there were more Protestants there and the Catholic church thought it would be a good idea to have someone represent them in the country.