THE MIRACLE AND “THE MIRACLES” OF FATHER Poveda

In 1999 the Postulate for the Cause of Canonization of Pedro Poveda finished the study of 1,408 documented favors attributed to him. These had to be analyzed until the final selection was done by the Expert Doctor that elected the cure of a child, favor that brought about a profound spiritual grace for the entire family. This family, in a surprisingly attuned reaction to other cases, due to the deep experienced lived and to the desire to protect the rights of the minor and their own identity, solicited the strictest reserve from the beginning, and thus it has been maintained. This is the “miracle” of Father Poveda about which people are inquiring these days.

All documented favors are classified for the purpose of study in three categories: 1, of a moral or spiritual nature; 2, of a healing nature, and 3, of a physical character.

Within the moral order stand out frequent osmic experiences (odor of sanctity) near the relics of Blessed Poveda; the unexpected and profound re-encounter with a wavering priestly vocation on its way to vanishing; the return to the Church by people that were very distanced from her; the definitive solution of serious matrimonial crisis and of relationships between parents and children; the unexpected liberation from drugs in persons that appeared irreversibly addicted to them, and the extraordinary presence of Father Poveda in very critical circumstances of the spiritual life.

Unexplainable and long lasting healings in children, some born with congenital deformities, others affected with serious illnesses that risked their lives or presaged a very limited way of life due to the permanent side effects of the sickness. There are other cures of malignant tumors; aneurisms surprisingly vanished; complex physical situations rapidly overcome and even some persistent psychic conditions that, after invoking the intercession of Pedro Poveda, left the person with no trace of mental illness.

The favors of a physical nature are very diverse: economic, especially with numerous families; the overcoming of grave and sure dangers surpassingly; the solution of labor problems or unemployment, and the evident help to students that study bewildered by varied difficulties.

We shall describe a case that could be expressive of an initial intuition: even though a given favor may be classified in any of the categories, a true miracle happens when the whole person is healed. For the healing of the whole person is the most important verifying factor of any miracle. We can see this in the case of a young man, 27 years old, by profession a shoemaker, with a disk hernia oppressing his sciatic nerve, which, besides making him suffer a “continuous martyrdom”, did not allow him to work, and he was the only supporter of his mother and sister. The person that suggested him to entrust himself to Father Poveda narrates it in this way:

“On the 15th, almost despaired on account of his pain, he went to the outskirts of Madrid. There he had so intense a pain in the midst of his body that he couldn’t bear it. Then he remembered Father Poveda and that he had failed to pray the novena that day. In the midst of his pain he invoked his intersession and, at that moment, he heard a snap, his pain had disappeared. Not daring to give credit to his feelings, he tried to lean on his foot. He no longer felt that painful current so ordinary before. He touched himself and made all kinds of tests so as to convince himself that it was true. He returned home not knowing if that was a dream or reality. That night he slept several hours, something he had not experienced in a long time, in spite of his medication and tranquilizers. On Sunday, the 16th, he continue to test himself again and again (...). On Monday the 17th at midmorning he went to his shop and worked for one and a half hours, making a thousand tests sitting and getting up without leaning, sowing at the machine, etc, (…). A few days later he told me, very surprised, that Father Poveda had cured him and had taken away his pain, but that there was another miracle much greater even, and it was the fact that he had been changed within, because now he thought differently, since his healing he saw life in a different way; in one word, he was a different person”.

During the Cause of Father Poveda two Processes, of Martyrdom and of Virtues, have taken place, and with this double title he was declared Blessed; all the favors have been studied as a whole, and one in depth since it has been declared a true miracle attributed to his intercession. His life and his death, his continuous attention to the concrete need and his intervention in very critical situations, show the diverse facets of this Saint, so “eminently human and all God’s”.

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