This guide, "Historical background," is an extensive tool organized along the script of the film and prepared by the Information Department of the Teresian Association. It offers bibliographic sources, many of which have been sources of inspiration for the filmmakers. It explains some meanings of the film resources used, and responds to issues raised by different people in the discussions held since the film's premiere on March 4 in Spain’s theaters.

At the same time, the purpose of the guide is to promote better understanding of different aspects of the context in places where the history of Spain, especially in the first decades of the twentieth century, is not very well known.

Outline of the guide

• Biography of Saint Pedro Poveda
• Structure of the film
• The cinematographic language of POVEDA
• Questions to generate discussion

Historical background
 
1. What happened from the morning of July 27, 1936, to dawn the next day?

a.    Context. The religious question during the Second Spanish Republic
b.    Saint Pedro Poveda’s words
c.    You may wonder why Josefa Segovia was not in Madrid at the time of the arrest and death of Pedro Poveda

2. The interrogation

a. Saint Pedro Poveda’s words
b. Which of the characters that appear in the scenes of the “interrogation” are real and which are not?

3. Guadix. Luminous days. The young priest

a. Do you want to know more?
b. Characters in Guadix
c. Meaning of a photograph

•    Profiles: Mr. Gonzalo de Figueroa, Marquis of Villamejor, and Fr. Vicente Ayllón

4. What did Pedro Poveda do in the months between his departure from Guadix and his arrival in Covadonga?

5. Covadonga. Green desert. Years of solitude and healing. Beginning of new projects and of the “Good Idea.”

a. What was the education problem in Spain?
b. Characters in Covadonga
c. What does Pedro Poveda write?
d. Do you want to listen to the soundtrack of the film?
e. Pedro Poveda’s words
f. Semiotic Resources
•    Profile: Antonia López Arista

6. Jaén. The golden days. Maturity. The Teresian Work takes shape.

a. Josefa Segovia, Directress of the Academy
b. An Academy with its own educational style
c. Call to a new vocation
d. Difficult discernment
e. Spiritual physiognomy
f. Campaign against the Academies
g. “El retablo de Maese Pedro” in El Defensor of Jaén
h. The campaign continues...
i. Diocesan and civil approval of the Teresian Association in Jaén
j. About the people in Jaén

7. Madrid. Chiaroscuro. The Teresian Work consolidates and spreads out.

a. What stands out about Pedro Poveda in Madrid
b. Characteristics of the formation program
c. Beyond borders
d. The Teresian Association before the Holy See
e. Antagonisms
f. Social and political climate between 1931 and 1936
g. Characters in Madrid
•    Profiles: Blessed Victoria Díez y Bustos de Molina and Carmen Cuesta del Muro
•    Why is the crucifix illuminated with blue and red light?
•    Pedro Poveda’s words

The Teresian Association today

Download the Guide

Pablo Moreno, film director, "... in the end he found me," 2016.

When I accepted making the film on Poveda, I had a different idea about who Pedro Poveda was. I knew he was a complex, multidimensional character with many possibilities; but as I got deeper into the story and as I discovered the character, I realized that I was quite short in all my ideas.

In 2002 the Socio-educational Proposal "Educating in Difficult Times" began in America with the commitment to promote quality education, humanizing and transforming, for everyone, inspired by Poveda’s pedagogical thought.

 Starting at that time many initiatives and activities developed in each country where the Teresian Association is present. The aim is to review and update pedagogical frameworks and to create new programs and actions taking into account the current context and strategic lines of the proposal. Because of this, a movement of educators has been generated.

Presentation

When Pedro Poveda, a young priest, full of dreams and enthusiasm, began his evangelizing action in the caves of Guadix in the early twentieth century, he could not imagine the future development of his intuitions and projects.

Throughout his life, these early ideas, these first projects to articulate evangelization, education and social advancement, were maturing, acquiring different rootedness and developments. His dreams, projects, and actions, seed sown on good ground has borne much fruit. Because when the seed falls on every piece of land that welcomes it, the seed becomes one with the land and, without losing its deepest identity; as it germinates it acquires the wealth of the land where it has been planted.

The prophetic intuition of Pedro Poveda, born out of the reality of Guadix, and of the wide and deep look at the society of his time from the mountains of Covadonga, is a seed and a fundamental point of reference for the development of what we now call the socio-educational proposal of the Teresian Association.

"I I have my mind and heart in the present moment.” "I want human lives." "True Humanism”. "Value justice as much as life" "Give me a vocation and I will give you back a school, a method and a pedagogy." “With the spirit I place knowledge and I consider that both spirit and knowledge constitute the essence of the Asociation." "Until Christ be formed in you" ...

I invite each and everyone, every teacher, every educator who lives his/her educational task like salt in the style of the early Christians, teams in different contexts that put their energies into creating educational environments where people grow, to continue their task. Let us continue at this time of crossroads, in the school Poveda, allowing him to speak to our hearts, and that we may hear the words that will bring out each day in the joyful and difficult situations, the light and strength that sustains us in the daily task of daring to educate.

It has been one hundred years ... We enter into a new millennium. The seed sown in Guadix is ​​now present in different parts of the world. In Europe, America, Africa, and Asia. In different countries, peoples and cultures. In each of these realities it is generating life, much life, much dynamism and generosity in the continuing search for projects and actions that articulate evangelization, education, and social advancement.

Almost 75 years ago, in 1928, this seed was planted in America. First in Chile, and slowly it germinated and grew in different countries. Today it is also present in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, the United States, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, and Venezuela. In each country there have been new socio-educational projects that have developed inspired by that seed. In Latin America, a real network of experiences and projects, encouraged for years by the Council for Culture of the Teresian Association, has been established, as well as opportunities for exchange, deepening and mutual support. The awareness that unity and diversity need eachother is becoming increasingly stronger and more rooted.

It is harvest time. Let the seed penetrate again into our best life energies with its transforming and mobilizing force. Different teams are being challenged. In Cochabamba (Bolivia), in a conference organized by the Council for Culture in 1998, the idea emerges: we have walked a lot, projects have worked through their identity and specificity. It is time to build together the Socio-educational Proposal of the Association in Latin America. The teams are launched. It has been four years of intense collective work, locally and across the continent, advised by specialists in education, with educational seminars and conferences in different countries. With the efficient and generous contribution of Poveda Cultural Center of the Dominican Republic.

Today Latin America wants to give Pedro Poveda, in the year we celebrate the centenary of the beginning of his evangelization in the caves of Guadix the fruit of your dreams, we dare to say.

This proposal, Educating in Difficult Times, an expression inspired by Poveda, wants to be a reference point for all social and educational projects, for each educator, for each educator in Latin America that is committed to the educational and evangelizing action promoted by the Teresian Association. It also wants to be a contribution to the dialogue and exchanges with centers and projects in other countries and continents.

May Pedro Poveda make fruitful the educational work of each of the centers and social projects in the continent and help us make his words alive: 

“Our works give testimony and speak with unmatched eloquence about what we are" (1919)

Loreto Ballester Reventós
President of the Teresian Association
Los Negrales, July 28, 2002

Web of the Socio-educational project http://pseitperu.blogspot.com.es/

José Manuel Sánchez Caro, Rector of the Pontifical University of Salamanca, 1993.

"Salt and light that always come together in the works of Poveda as harmony between knowledge and faith. For him, those women who for the first time came close to the University, who would open to Education and other disciplines, should cultivate knowledge.

Juan Bermúdez Heredia (Juanico), a child and cave-dweller at the time Pedro Poveda was in Guadix. Testimony collected in 1982 when he was 80.

"The one in the picture in front of his legs, (referring to this photo) that's me.

Ana Mª López Díaz-Otazu, collaborator of Pedro Poveda, Experience of God and prophecy in Pedro Poveda, 1993.

"The Eucharist was the center of his life. He celebrated it with awe and reverence, evoking the Last Supper and Calvary.

Carlos Osoro, Archbishop of Madrid. My friendship with Poveda, 1994.

"Speaking of God has never been easy, even though it is always necessary. And speaking about man, that is, in reference to a God who moves foundations is riskier because we can turn our back as the young man of the Gospel did.

By ARMANDO PEGO PUIGBÓ.- This article seeks to provide an overview of the historiographical treatment of the life and work of the priest and educator Pedro Poveda (1874-1936). Here are presented features of a unique Catholic teaching proposal in a secularized age. Poveda wanted to present the Christian message in state educational structures by encouraging dialogue between faith and knowledge. This modernization program also includes the hermeneutical keys of an era marked by the activities of the ILE (Initials of Institución Libre de Enseñanza).

Pedro Poveda (Linares, 1876-Madrid, 1936), priest and Spanish educator of the first third of the twentieth century, and founder of the Teresian Association, ought to be given a noteworthy prominence in the political and social circumstances of Spain and even Europe at the beginning of the XXI century. Such a role has been obscured by a set of historical, educational, and religious factors that should be analyzed and thought over at a time when the limits of secularism in Western democratic societies are being discussed.

In the following pages I will focus my presentation on the historiographical reasons that seem to have postponed the originality of Poveda’s work and on the new paths that are opening in the study of a key individual in Spanish education -not only Catholic- from the final stage of the Restoration to the Second Republic. Thus this is a contribution to the reception and analysis of one of the most unique proposals of Spanish Catholicism in the twentieth century from the viewpoint of cultural understanding.

Therefore, I will first analyze the literature on the protagonist and his work, both from the civil and religious points of view. Then I will raise some of the paradoxes that have occurred when studying his educational contribution (biographies, historical and social analyses, history of the Teresian Association, etc.). I will end with an assessment of future prospects offered by current research on our author and the traces he may leave on the approach to the study of contemporary religious history.

1.    PEDRO POVEDA, A FOOTNOTE ON A PAGE?

Seventy years after his death, when observing with perspective the image of Pedro Poveda projected by ecclesiastical and/or educational literature, one has the feeling of not being able to claim completely another one of the forgotten in contemporary Spanish culture. There are several reasons. Some are political. Among them, his tragic death on July 28, 1936, in the early days of the Spanish Civil War. Other reasons are religious, such as his efforts to embody the Christian faith through the practice of lay women, mainly in public education. To this, as a cultural explanation, ignorance of his writings may be added.   Neither his recognition as "humanist and pedagogue" by UNESCO in 1974 on the centenary of his birth, nor his beatification in 1993 or canonization in 2003 have led to a greater dissemination of his life and work, hardly spread among the general public, misinterpreted or reduced in his originality to schemes that do not realize his complexity or his nuances.

Poveda did not found, in any way, a new religious congregation dedicated to teaching, but for the first time, even if relying on similar experiences in the field of private education, such as home teachers Associations promoted by Jesuit Fr. Tarin, he designed a program that would offer teachers and Christian teachers the opportunity to organize and participate in the process of building a national school of state character based on the principles of their faith. Inspired by the theological and spiritual model of "the early Christians,” citizens with equal rights and duties to others in a society immersed in a period of secularization, he wrote Ensayo de Proyectos pedagógicos. Following this publication, he founded what later became known as the Teresian Association. As an association of lay women dedicated to teaching, primarily in public schools, his ideal began to crystallize around his Academies as training centers, in close collaboration with official Teacher Training schools. The idea was to contribute to achieving the ultimate goal of making present the Christian message, through adequate preparation of teaching professionals, in state educational structures.

Both the emphasis on the associative character, in line with professional and pedagogical concerns of the time, and the thrust to the leading role that women could eventually develop in academia, beginning with primary education, make Poveda a thinker and organizer that can not be just confined to the scope of Catholic "intelligence." He should be studied in the historical context of one of the most fruitful stages of Spanish culture, which influenced him and in which he would leave a mark. Note also his constant social concern, since his years as a young priest in Guadix, where he founded a school for children of the caves in 1902, until the end of his life, having been a member of both the Central Board against Illiteracy and the Hermandad del Refugio. As Dolores Gómez Molleda said:

«his concern about the education of the popular classes, the professional association of teachers and social advancement, the pedagogical updating of teachers, and the renewal of teaching methods and their achievements in the social-educational field, place him in an important place in the modern and reformist educational movement.»

His innovative vision of lay apostolate, through the Christian presence in state structures, precisely reflects the profound impact of the modernization process experienced by Spanish society between the Revolution of '68 and the Second Republic. Trying to overcome a confessional stance marked by catechetical zeal, Poveda tried to harmonize the exemplary witness of a Christian life with a scientific training in accordance with the requirements of the moment, beyond controversies over teaching catechism, while remaining faithful time to Papal teaching. For him, faith and knowledge are not set against each other, in a time when certain sectors supported an antagonism between the two with conviction. What could be done, in his opinion, was, on the contrary, articulate a dialogue, taking into account the complex power relations of a society that demanded the autonomy of public life: "Thinking about the amendment of the legislation, when each new law is a step towards secularism, would be equivalent to thinking of an unattainable remedy.” Faced with this attitude and through the foundation of what he called Catholic Institution of Teaching, which failed to materialize, he proposed the following in his Ensayo de proyectos pedagógicos:

«Train, according to the Christian spirit and according to the best teaching methods, a body of teachers of primary education, who would take annually the required competitive exams in order to obtain the largest number of positions in public schools; and second, maintain by all means possible, and exerting the best efforts, the Christian spirit and professional union in all teachers belonging to the Association."»

Assuming the novelty of such an approach, as well as the difficult balance that caused this proposal to be placed on the borders of the usual Catholic practice in those years, the following pages are an endeavor to account for both the historiographical reception of this proposal and indicate the possible lines of action, making them historically intelligible. Otherwise, it should be recognized, with Cioran, that in the case of Poveda, it has an ironic validity to affirm that "man makes history; in turn, history destroys him. He is the author and subject, agent and victim." 

(To read the full article, in Spanish, download the attachment to the bottom of this page)

ARMANDO PEGO PUIGBÓ. Universitat Ramon Llull,
in Hispania Sacra, LIX 120, July-December, 2007, 707-740, ISSN: 0018-215-X

Servant of the Servants of God for perpetual memory  

"May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world [...]. From now on, let no one make trouble for me: for I bear the marks of Jesus in my body" (Gal 6: 14,17).

The priest and martyr Pedro Poveda Castroverde, founder of the Teresian Association, received the singular grace to inspire all his spiritual life and his whole existence, even death, in the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word, culminating on the Cross. The Cross was for Pedro a constant stimulus to holiness and the key to his configuration with Christ, which he fully perfected in himself to give his life for him.

Blessed Pedro Poveda Castroverde was born in the city of Linares, Jaén, on the 3rd of December, 1874. His parents raised him in Christian education, also open to other aspects of human culture. Since his adolescence he was attracted to the priesthood. He entered the Seminary of the Diocese of Guadix, and in 1897 he received the sacred order of the presbyterate. He played many ecclesiastical duties, and since 1902 worked actively to promote a society in accordance with human and Christian customs, especially among the marginalized population living in the caves near the town of Guadix; he built schools for children and workshops for adults. Looking to Jesus Christ as "the foundation of education and basis of all moral and material progress,” he installed the Blessed Sacrament in the chapel, cave of "Our Lady of Grace.” Here he received the call to this kind of apostolate.

Appointed a Canon of the Basilica of Santa Maria of "Covadonga" in 1906, he tended to the Christian formation of pilgrims, devoting time tirelessly to prayer and apostolate. He was concerned with social education and the necessity of faith and knowledge. He published numerous articles and pamphlets in which he propagated a new profile of the lay faithful and founded Academies and Educational Centers, laying the foundation for the Teresian Association, which in 1917, won diocesan ecclesiastical approval in the city of Jaen as a Pious Union of the Faithful. While Pedro resided in Madrid, in 1924, the Pious Union was approved by an Apostolic Brief of Pope Pius XI, our predecessor in recent times. This association of the faithful, following the example of St. Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church, proposed to its members, especially through education and cultural activity, the lifestyle that Christians had in the early Church.

A prudent and fearless priest, open to dialogue, adorned with solid virtues and heroic charity, nourished the faith of many with excellent spiritual advice, promoted action and worked diligently with Catholic Action and various institutions. Teacher of education and prayer, teacher of Christian life and the relationships between faith and knowledge, he studiously worked for social justice and human solidarity.

During the religious persecution in Spain, on the morning of July 28, 1936, as he was led to martyrdom because of his faith, he uttered these words: "I am a priest of Christ"; immediately he was martyred.

In 1955 his cause of canonization was instructed in Madrid. On December 21, 1992 the Decree on martyrdom and virtues was promulgated. As the process has been diligently completed, We, on the 10th of October 1993, with a solemn rite declared Pedro Poveda Castroverde Blessed at the tomb of the Apostle Peter. On January 22, 2003 we enacted the Decree on the miracle attributed to the intercession of this same Blessed. Once we heard the favorable opinions of Cardinals and Bishops, in the Consistory held on the 7th of March of the same year, we established that the rite of canonization, given the occasion of our Pastoral Visit, take place in Madrid on the 4 of May, 2003.

So today, before a multitude of God's people and many pastors of the Church, we are pleased to proclaim the formula of canonization:

For the honor of the Blessed Trinity, the exaltation of the Catholic faith and the increase of the Christian life, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and our own, after due deliberation and frequent prayer for divine assistance, and having sought the counsel of many of our brother Bishops, we declare and define Blessed Pedro Poveda, José María Rubio, Genoveva Torres, Ángeles de la Cruz and Maria Maravillas de Jesus to be Saints and we enroll them among the Saints, decreeing that they are to be venerated as such by the whole Church. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Concluded the customary prayer, we have revered this exceptional man, and admiring his heroic industriousness and his wonderful examples of faith, we have invoked his protection in support of the whole Church. What we have decreed, we want it to be valid now and in the future, excluding anything to the contrary.

I, John Paul
Bishop of the Catholic Church

Marcelo Rosetti, Apostolic Protonotary

On May 4, 2003, in Madrid, Pope John Paul II canonized Pedro Poveda Castroverde, with Jesuit José Maria Rubio and religious Genoveva Torres, Angela de la Cruz, and María Maravillas de Jesús.

In the crowded ceremony in Plaza de Colón, in the city of Madrid, Spain, that morning, St. John Paul II pronounced the solemn formula of canonization:

For the honor of the Blessed Trinity, the exaltation of the Catholic faith and the increase of the Christian life, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and our own, after due deliberation and frequent prayer for divine assistance, and having sought the counsel of many of our brother Bishops, we declare and define Blessed Pedro Poveda, José María Rubio, Genoveva Torres, Ángeles de la Cruz and Maria Maravillas de Jesus to be Saints and we enroll them among the Saints, decreeing that they are to be venerated as such by the whole Church. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

In his homily, St. John Paul II said:

St. Pedro Poveda, grasping the importance of the role of education in society, undertook an important humanitarian and educational task among the marginalized and the needy. He was a master of prayer, a teacher of the Christian life and of the relationship between faith and knowledge, convinced that Christians must bring essential values and commitment to building a world that is more just and mutually supportive. His life ended with the crown of martyrdom.

Pedro Poveda Castroverde had been beatified, presbyter, founder and martyr, in Rome on December 10,1993, with Victoria Díez, also a martyr  (Sevilla, November 11, 1903 - Hornachuelos, Córdoba, August 12,1936) teacher and member of the Teresian Association. 

PRAYER THROUGH THE INTERCESSION OF SAINT PEDRO POVEDA

Lord, our God,
you have given Saint Pedro Poveda,
Founder of the Teresian Association,
the grace of promoting the evangelizing action of Christians
through education and culture,
and of giving his life in martyrdom as a priest of Jesus Christ:
we ask that, like him, we may know
how to participate faithfully in the mission of the Church
through the witnessing of our Christian life
and the generous surrender to the announcement of your Kingdom.
We pray that through his intercession,
you may grant us the favor we wish to receive.
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen

July 28 is the liturgical feast of Saint Pedro Poveda (1874-1936)

His remains are venerated in the chapel that bears his name at the Cultural and Spirituality Center, Santa Maria de Los Negrales,
Address: C/ San Pedro Poveda, 2, Alpedrete, Madrid (A6, km. 42)