ILOILO, Philippines
Several parishes have already an image of Saint Pedro Poveda in the city and province of Iloilo.
The statue of St. Pedro Poveda (1) was installed at the Chapel of the Saints, right side of St. Clement’s Church, La Paz, Iloilo City on May 9, 2019. Fr. Senen Javier, CSSR, parish priest, presided over the brief ceremony. Sixteen PA and ACIT members and friends came despite a very heavy downpour. At the end we prayed for the intercession of Fr. Poveda and we sang the prayer he wrote, “Lord, that I may think…”
Fr. Poveda’s statue stands on the shelf at the left door entrance of the chapel. His peaceful mien welcomes people to contemplative prayer. Overhead is the frame of the six Spanish Redemptorist martyrs, Fr. Poveda’s contemporaries who died for their faith during the 1936 civil war in Spain. On Fr. Poveda’s left is the frame of the Divine Mercy. Statues of other saints are placed around the circular chapel.
The statue was made at the Rogationist workshop in Silang, Cavite through donations mostly from friends and some TA members.
Several images of Saint Pedro Poveda were also installed in some churches in the Archdiocese of Jaro, with the permission of their respective parish priests. These are the parishes of St. Anne in Molo, of the Immaculate Conception in Tanza, Iloilo City; of Sto. Thomas de Villanueva in Miagao and in Alimodian, of St. Michael the Archangel in San Miguel, Iloilo; Fr. Poveda’s image was also placed at the St. Augustine Catholic School in Dumangas, Iloilo whose Director is Fr. Glofel Manaay, diocesan priest who was a TA Youth member when he was in the seminary. He was happy to have Fr. Poveda known in his school.
As of this writing, images of St. Pedro Poveda are waiting to be installed in the Santa Barbara Parish, Iloilo where we have an active group of IT. Youth, and in the chapel of the Western Visayas State University Medical Center in Jaro, Iloilo City.
Text: Ma. Evelina Tabares.
Photos: Azucena Camagan.