 On
detecting the de-christianizing of culture and of education in his own
time, Poveda understands the responsibility of all believers in this matter.
He is aware of the need for training well-formed professionals, ready
to be present in the structures of society.
His idea, strong and daring, is for true Christians to become like yeast
in the dough. The old and new idea of a spirituality lived in the midst
of the world, as the first Christians, inspires the start of the Teresian
Association in the year 1911.
Poveda has confidence in young people and in the women who initiate their
access to the University. Thus, he opens his first Academy for the students
in Oviedo with a handful of young educators. These, externally, are like
many other professionals but their style and inspiration stem from the
mystery of the God made man:
“In Jesus, under the appearance of just a man, God is present.
Likewise, in you, under an ordinary appearance, must dwell the spirit
of God”.With this same spirit he establishes other academies: Linares
in 1912 and Jaén in 1913. The same characteristics apply to the
first University Residence for women in the nation, opened in Madrid in
1914.
“More than ever called to be holy. Solid virtues to be gained even
at the cost of life. Without the apparatus that hinders the progress of
the Work: the life of the Teresian Association”.Perhaps the apparent
paradox of these words of Blessed Pedro Poveda is the key element for
the understanding of the charisma that sustains the Teresian Association
founded by him.
To opt for holiness, to respond to God who wants us holy: What is so new
about it? The fact that the Founder of the Teresian Association was speaking,
half a century before Vatican II, to groups of lay people who were investing
their lives in evangelization and in human development by means of education
and culture.
It was new then, in the year 1911, to see ordinary lay people committed
to the call to true holiness not only as individuals but also as an organized
body.
Two things could become an obstacle to the intent of the Founder: That
the demands of evangelization might tint the secular character of the
members. Or that the engagement of the members in the temporal order could
tarnish their zest for holiness.
 “The
work of evangelization we intend to do must be identical to that started
by the first Christians, and the means are to be the same they used”
(1920). This is what gave way in 1911 to the Teresian Association. It
was a Work for our times, approved as a civic organization in Jaén
and recognized among the diocesan associations of the local church in
1917. In 1924 it received Vatican approval as a Pious Union. In the new
Canon Law it is today an International Association of Christian Faithful,
of Pontifical Right.
Its 3,500 members, inscribed in different associations under the same
name, are governed by one and the same statue. All live the same mission
and spirituality and carry out an evangelizing task through their witness
in family life and in the exercise of their profession in the world of
culture and education.
T.A. Information Department Info@institucionteresiana.org
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