Poveda in Guadix: an instrument of God

GUADIX, Granada.- Today, the voices of the children can still be heard in the public square of the Barrio of the Caves in Guadix. But the children do not throw stones at the visitors. Instead they approach them in a friendly way and even pose for a photo in front of the white chimneys that identify the area.

The public square by the Ermita Nueva is now free of dust. One of the walls of the small church shows a blue mosaic marking the date when things began to change in 1902.
‘Schools of the Sacred Heart´ reads the legend below the drawing of a small building by the old chapel. The children know well what that means.
They have seen the photo that shows Blessed Pedro Poveda surrounded by children and one of them, Juanillo, is between his knees.

Inside the chapel there is a large mosaic depicting this original photo. Outside, the streets of the Barrio are clean, there is electricity and running water and the educational work of Poveda continues. The School of the Sacred Heart and its dining room are now a social-cultural center and a school that bear the name of Pedro Poveda and are run by the Teresian Association he founded.

Poveda had arrived to Guadix in 1894 from the city of Linares, in Jaen, in order to finish his theology studies at the Seminary. He was ordained a priest in 1897 and it is probable that, from the top of the Alcazaba fortress where the seminary was, he would have seen the cave district that surrounded the city.

At the time, a lot of dirt and social marginalization separated that area from the rest of the city, but in 1902 Poveda had to preach a Lenten mission there and the people of the caves won his heart. With other seminarians he formed groups for catechesis and soon he became aware of other needs: the majority of the children could not read or write and the families needed basic education. That same year he began the school project that he dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to whom Pope Leo XIII had entrusted, in 1889, the social apostolate of all Christians.
“I cannot say, without lacking in truth, that I did not do a lot of good in Guadix¨, he recalled years later. “There, I was God’s instrument for many good things, but an instrument and nothing else. The good done was for them, for the people¨.

In order to conduct the business of the projects, he rented a cave facing the Shrine of Our Lady of Grace. To those who would question what he was doing, he put his response in writing: “it is our desire to regenerate the families through the children without forgetting the adults.”

On the one hundredth anniversary of the arrival of Poveda to Guadix, the current Bishop, Msgr Juan García Santa-Cruz spoke about Poveda and said that “only from the perspective of the priesthood can we understand why Pedro Poveda was the kind of person he was and why he did the things he did”.
 “Lord, may I always be a priest in thought, word and deed” Poveda used to say. The Bishop underlined that “like Jesus, Poveda chose to be with those who are weaker and less privileged. He invited others to the cause and he remained there for three years evangelizing the people, improving their living conditions and striving to equip them to take their lives into their own hands”.

Poveda´s mother, Linarejos was heard saying, years later: “I could not say if my son is a saint, all I know is that he has suffered like one”.
And true it was, said the Bishop “things came to a point where Pedro had to leave Guadix. What could have happened? We can imagine all sorts of things and blame all sorts of people. Maybe Pedro Poveda was too far ahead of his time. Maybe he went too fast and miscalculated reactions” he commented. “It is a fact that many were jealous of the generosity of Fr. Poveda and it is also certain that those of us who today read about the events that erupted around him – calumnies, jealousy, suspicion of all kinds - feel sad to hear of the behavior of individuals who like him were called to plant rather than uproot, to build rather than destroy… And yet there can be no authentic priesthood without Golgotha”.
On the 11th of February 1905, Guadix saw Father Poveda for the last time.

Years later Poveda himself wrote, in his diary, some notes about what he experienced in Guadix.
 “When the project of the School of the Sacred Heart was most promising, problems began that could have put my health in great danger”, he would remember.
“At times everything turned against me”, he left written in a brief note about those years.
“My decision to leave was taken after much thought and putting the good of others above my own…” he explained.

As Bishop Garcia Santa Cruz said on the 100th anniversary Mass: “He gave it all. He who had never thought of leaving Guadix, left slowly and in silence. And Guadix would be, forever more, like a shrine that keeps his memory with holy pride. The streets and squares, the churches and convents, the caves, especially the Barrio of the Caves, will never forget the young priest who came to Guadix with the desire to be holy”.

A.CANTERO

Updates: 21/04/2007