HIS PERSONALITY

The authors of the different biographies of Poveda have all commented on the unmistakable countenance of a man that at the age of 39 exudes maturity, a countenance with a special delicacy and a refined spirit. 

His thin blond hair begins to show some whiteness upon his temples giving his wide and reflective forehead the impression of a gentle halo.  His clear and habitually recollected eyes give him an aspect of physical frailty.  His manners: polite and simple. 

What did especially call attention about him?
There is a poem that a fellow canon dedicated to him during his stay in Covadonga.  Its first stanza decisively portrays his personality:

“Young, wise, Andalusian, polite, elegant,
Calm, discrete, learned,
Kind-hearted by nature, and virtuous beside,
A priest of an edifying life”

More about his personality in: www.pedropoveda.org

POVEDA AS A PRIEST

Poveda´s diary shows references to his vocation:  “Lord, that I may always be a priest in thoughts, words and actions” (Diary, March 15, 1933) 

His vocation was nurtured, in childhood, by his Christian family who had a great sensitivity for the needs of the people. During his adolescence he got acquainted with organizations and role models that strengthened his vocation:  The St Aloysius Sodality helped the young to be coherent Christians in the everyday life.  The Conferences of St Vincent de Paul opened his eyes to the difficulties of the poor and sick and to ways for helping them.  The figure of St Joseph of Calasanz aroused in him great admiration for his efforts in begging education and work for the many children roaming the streets.

He entered the Seminary in Jaén the year 1889, and later on he obtained a scholarship for the Seminary in Guadix, where he was ordained priest on April 17th, 1897.

More about his priesthood in: www.pedropoveda.org

POVEDA AS HUMANIST AND PEDAGOGUE

Humanist and Pedagogue is how UNESCO recognized him in 1974 at the celebration of his first centenary.

During the first decade of the twentieth century, Poveda studies the ample panorama of national life with a special interest in the world of culture and education. He publishes articles and pamphlets on topics of teaching and pedagogy whose epistemological statues are becoming established.
Before so ample a panorama, the topics of education take on for him special importance and urgency. Following his own motto, “he began by doing and teaching”

More on his educational method: www.pedropoveda.org

POVEDA AS WRITER

Poveda´s written work allows us to know not only his person but also the social reality of his time.  His style was deliberately simple, as it befits the transparency of his literary work.

The literary genre he used, reflecting his personality, are, in chronological order, as follow:  letters (1902), meditations (1908), maxims (1909), essays (1911) and articles (1911).

He combines simplicity and richness of thought.  His language is precise, characteristic of a man concerned with essentials and in continuous dealings with human problems.  All his writings are prompted by his desire to evangelize and they reflect his solid criteria.  His affirmations are seriously formulated affirmations.  His topics are as varied as the current problems of his society, of education, of life in general and of Christian living; they also include those tedious daily business of bills to be paid, contacts to be made, decisions to be taken.

The diversity of genre used helps the reader to know the different facets of its author.  His letters reveal his gift as communicator; his essays, his involvement in the   society of his time; his meditations unveil for us the man of God and his maxims his human spirit. All these perspectives offer the reader a varied light of the message he felt called to transmit as a writer.

More a bout his writings in: www.pedropoveda.org

POVEDA AS FOUNDER

Pedro Poveda, aware of the challenges that his historical moment posed, soon realized the importance of the secularization that was taking place.  He envisioned a way of living Christianity in the midst of the world in imitation of the transforming presence of the first Christians in society.  Under this inspiration he founded an Academy in Oviedo in 1911, as the germ of the Teresian Association, named after St. Teresa of Avila, a woman of learning -a doctor of the Church- and a teacher of prayer.  With that Academy a new evangelizing style is born in Spain.

The Teresian Association is an International Association of Christ Faithful present in 30 countries. Its objective is the human promotion of individuals and the transformation of unjust structures by means of an education and culture imparted from the platform of Christianity.  Its members are men and women that, according to their specific vocation and professions, strive to live the Christian vocation in the world “after the style of the first Christians” as its Founder desired.

More about the Founder of the Teresian Association: www.pedropoveda.org

POVEDA´S SPIRITUALITY

His friends and companions, those who knew him better, saw in him a man of faith that wanted to live the discipleship of Jesus as the locus of God’s Spirit. Don Pedro surrendered to God the Father with trusting obedience, aware of the absolute mystery of the Divine; he contemplated in his Son the love of the Father, a love crucified and resurrected; under the guidance of the Spirit he carried out his activities as the expression of his surrender to the Father and his imitation of Jesus.

Aware he had been chosen to be a priest, he knew his life was meant to be for others.  He lived his self-giving with the constant desire to remain united to God through prayer.  He felt impelled by the urgency to proclaim the Good News. 
 
More about his spirituality in: www.pedropoveda.org

POVEDA´S  HOLINESS

The fame of holiness accompanied Poveda in his life and after his death.  Here are some revealing testimonies:

“Whenever I had the opportunity to talk with Fr. Poveda I always appreciated his modesty, his humility, his fineness, his charity and his affable manner that revealed a rare degree of virtue and the signs of an intense interior life”, said of him his fiend Juan Aponte, a priest from the city of Astorga

Another witness from Enrique Herrera Oria S.J. recognised that “I had a very intimate relationship with Poveda.  He was devout, simple and humble and possessed a thorough knowledge of the Spanish educational problems, with a great zeal and tactfulness in his actions… He was a saintly man, the kind to undertake great and very difficult works of apostolate.”

More about his fame of sainthood in: www.pedropoveda.org