1863 POVEDA PEDRO – POVERE SUORE DELLE SCUOLE DI NOSTRA SIGNORA 1864
Ordained priest in 1897, he served as professor and spiritual director in the seminary, while also engaging in apostolic work among the poor of the same city. Canon of Covadonga in 1906 and of Jaén in 1913, penitentiary of the Royal Chapel in Madrid in 1921, he devoted himself entirely to the work he had founded. His concerns, from the early years of his priesthood, were pedagogical in nature. For this reason, he obtained a teaching diploma and founded two schools at Guadix. He was among the first to recognize the dangers posed by the progressive secularization of education for young people and sought to create within the Teresian Institution a group of members well-prepared intellectually and firmly grounded in religious formation, capable of countering the harm caused by secular schools. At his death, the Institution had already spread throughout Spain, America, and Rome. His influence was such that he is regarded as one of the foremost modern educators. His thought was conveyed through various publications: *El provecho del alma* (1909), issued in multiple editions (II. trans. *Il progresso spirituale dell’anima*, Milan 1940); *La voz del amado: Visita a la Santina*; *Plan de vida*; *Para los niños*; *Ensayo de proyectos pedagógicos para la fundación de una institución católica de enseñanza*; *Consejos a las profesoras de las primeras Academias Teresianas*; *Jesus Maestro*; *Meditaciones y Consideraciones para las Teresianas*—all notable for the solidity of their doctrine, the depth of their ideas, and the conciseness and clarity of their style. His beatification process has been initiated.