Pedro Poveda Castroverde
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Saint Pedro Poveda Castroverde |
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| Born | December 3, 1874 Linares, Spain |
| Died | July 28, 1936 (aged 61) Madrid, Spain |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | October 10, 1993, Rome, Italy by Pope John Paul II |
| Canonized | May 4, 2003, Madrid, Spain by Pope John Paul II |
| Patronage | Teresian Association |
Pedro Poveda, priest, martyr, and founder of the Teresian Association, was born in Linares, Spain on December 3, 1874. Canonized in 2003, his feast day is July 28.
Pedro Poveda was born December 3, 1874 at Linares, Spain. He entered the seminary in Jaen in 1889, and then transferred to the seminary of Guadix, Granada, where he had been offered a scholarship. Ordained on April 17, 1897, at the age of twenty-three. He taught at the seminary, continued his studies, and received his licentiate in theology in Seville in 1900.
In 1902 he was assigned to preach a Lenten mission in Guadix to the Roma people who lived in the caves. He began Christian doctrine classes, then two schools for the children. Poveda moved to the caves in order to live closer to the people. He began Christian doctrine classes, then a school for boys and girls, a dining room and evening classes for adults. He collected funds for the project, travelling through the province and to Madrid where he had good friends, and organized the St. Vincent de Paul Conferences. Convinced of the importance of education, he founded the Schools of the Sacred Heart for poor children. In 1905, due to difficulties with the acceptance of his socio- educational activities he was obliged to abandon the work in the Caves of Guadix and at the age of thirty-two accepted an appointment as a canon of the Basilica of Covadonga, Asturias.
His time in Guadix had impressed Pedro with the need for education for the poor. He began to published articles and pamphlets on the question of the professional formation of teachers. These constitute the beginning of what later on will become the Teresian Association. The Academies were an answer to the critical situation of the times. In Spain, at the end of the nineteenth century, 68% of men and 79% of women were illiterate.
He joined the Apostolic Union of Secular Priests in 1912, wrote on the need for more teachers, and opened teacher training centers. He returned to teaching at the seminary at Jaen, served as spiritual director of Los Operarios Catechetical Centre, and taught religion at the Teachers Training School. In 1921 he was transferred to Madrid and was appointed a chaplain of the Royal Palace. In 1922 he was appointed to the Central Board Against Illiteracy, and continued to work with the Teresian Association.
When the Civil War broke out, he was identified as an enemy by those who wished to dechristianize the schools. A few days before his death he wrote, "Now more than ever we must study the lives of the first Christians so as to learn from them how to behave in times of persecution. See how they obeyed the Church, how they confessed Christ, how they prepared for martyrdom, how they prayed for their persecutors and forgave them...."
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