When the altar table was made of wood, as in that case, it used to have a small slab of marble placed in the center, with the word “sepulcher” engraved on it. This was a cavity containing some relics, preferably of martyrs, as a sign of the communion with the celestial church - with the saints - that already enjoy the beatitude of God. On the altar table, the offertory and the consecration, the core of the Eucharistic celebration, take place.

Carefully collected and preserved, the altar table of Pedro Poveda, as well as other objects of his oratory, were moved to the chapel of the house of the Teresian Association in Poggio Mirteto (Rieti, Italy) in 1965. 

Why not continue to celebrate today the Eucharist on the same altar of the oratory where he defined himself as a priest of Jesus Christ?

This precious relic has just been placed on the altar of the Chapel in the Towers of Santa Maria de los Negrales House of Spirituality (Madrid). On the evening of July 27, 2017, the centenary year of the first ecclesial approval of the Teresian Association, we will also celebrate a Eucharist in memory of the last Mass of Pedro Poveda. 

From now on, the priests who, together with the faithful, celebrate the Eucharist there, will know that they are doing so on the same altar where for many years a saint celebrated the Eucharist. A saint who made the Eucharistic mystery the center of his life until his last mass on the morning of July 27, 1936.

In the other chapel of Santa María House of Spirituality, his martyred body lies under the altar. 

María Encarnación González