LEON, Spain (April. 2007).- Josefa Segovia was the honor guest in the celebration of the Feast of “Santa Teresa” school, in Leon on the occasion of the 50^th, anniversary of her death, the 29th of March.

It wasn’t the first time she visited this city. But this time, instead of coming as an individual, she appeared as three persons: Pepita, Pepa y Maria Josefa. The school community welcomed them in amazement.

On the stage, the three women talked about their dreams, their learning experiences and their capacity to dare. To dream, to learn, to dare was the theme of this dramatization which echoed the motto that oriented all the works of the recent international Assemblies of the Teresian Association, last summer.

The young Pepita loved enjoying herself and making the people around her happy.. She appeared on the stage as a young girl full of life and with a joyful and positive look towards the future.

 

Pepa, some years later, showed herself as a young woman who learned to be an adult in the midst of the controversial times she lived. She took firm steps to make true the beautiful dream inspired by Pedro Poveda.

Maria Josefa Segovia, the mature woman, remembered, re-discovered her inner life, her daring and committed life. She also shared her dreams… with everyone
It was one same woman in different stages of her life, represented on the stage by three students. The three of them distributed presents toall attending the celebration: balloons, stars, and blank cards, symbolizing the youth DREAMS, the LEARNING, how face the cross and also the DARING, having the same courage that gave sense of direction to the mature life of Josefa Segovia.

The students who brought to life Josefa Segovia on the stage expressed what this experience had meant for them:

María Arrimada, 3rd. year of ESO ( The mature age of Josefa Segovia).
“To play the role of Josefa Segovia has been for me an experience of deep interior reflection. It has helped me to understand the reason of her life and her actions. I have learned that each person has to strive for the achievement of the objectives marked for his or her life, and that if one is constant and works hard, finally one can reach the desired goal and will be rewarded. As a closing remark, I assert that I have been impressed by the fact that the love of God can be so great that it may induce a person to renounce to everything she loves in order to continue the Work entrusted to her.

Ana Señoráns, 4th. year of ESO (Pepa, the adult woman).
“ Because of this representation, I have becom closer to that woman whose work facilitated that I may have now this type of education. I succeeded in making her a part of myself. Keeping in mind my modest acting, I dare to say that I brought her to life, that she now has seen the fruit of her dreams. This closeness to Josefa Segovia makes me participate in her life, with sufferings and joys, but her real life”.

Beatriz Muñoz, 1st. year of ESO (Pepita, la niña)
“To be Josefa Segovia has helped me to know her better at her quite difficult historical times, when she was only a child. It is a little complicated to represent a person of the past, so different from our own times, and with a rather hard life. But, I enjoyed it”.

Jose Luis Santos, a school teacher member of the organizing committee of the feast, said at the end of the event, in reference to Josefa Segovia that he had always been impressed “and felt a profound admiration for those persons who know clearly what is their goal in this life”. He thinks that they are people “with deep convictions, but without dogmatism or inflexibility. People of a courageous spirit, that feel themselves marked by a destiny which calls them urgently”.

For the people who organized the event, this “has been an opportunity to present the image of this woman and the way she faced situations of her times that continue being key issues of today: the situation of women, the dialogue faith-culture, her capacity of trust, her interest for education and the inter-cultural dimension”.

Josefa Segovia, was the main collaborator of San Pedro Poveda from the start of the Teresian Association and she was the first President. Her cause of beatification is waiting for the decision of the Church on recognizing a miracle obtained by her intercession.

Text and photos:
Mercedes Ávila Y Pilar de Francisco

Translation, Aurora Cameno