The women in Casa'l Churro

Teresa Rodríguez, Jovita Rodríguez, Jovita Rodríguez, Faustina Álvarez and Matutina Rodriguez

Mothers, daughters, aunts, sisters, nieces...But also inspectors, teachers, doctors ... Since the last quarter of the twentieth century, several figures in our house marked the way for an improvement in the social condition of women. At a time when there was not even a glimpse of the rights that women enjoy today, these people fought to improve the future of their descendants and, therefore, of the country.

Faustina Álvarez

Among all of them, the personality of Faustina Álvarez, the first Inspector of Education in Spain (1916), stands out on her own merits. Born on February 15, 1874 in Renueva (León), daughter of Mr. José Álvarez de Castro and Mrs. María Manuela García Flórez, she was baptized two days later in the Church of San Juan. However, his childhood would be spent in Canales. Against maternal criteria Faustina felt a passion for learning. Such was the situation, that she had to hide in order to read books. Finally, when she was left in the care of an aunt in Canales, Faustina continued her studies, achieving a teacher's degree at the age of 21.

His first destination was in Llanos de Alba, and there she met by chance Gabino Rodríguez, a teacher from Besullo who had been assigned to Riello, and whom he would marry on October 6, 1897 in Canales, passing their honeymoon in Besullo. Besullo would be precisely the first joint destiny of the marriage, and there, her sons Matutina and Alejandro would be born.

After this, the couple would separate their professional paths, and Faustina went to Barcia (José would be born there), before landing in Miranda in 1910. Their work there was tireless and exemplary. In addition to teaching and publishing opinion pieces in the press, Faustina tried to create a school canteen and, more importantly, founded the Mutualidad del Perpetuo Socorro, a pioneer institution in assisting students with fewer resources.

La Maestra Leonesa frente al problema del analfabetismo

In 1916 Faustina would make history by being the first woman to obtain the position of Inspector of Education in Spain by opposition, taking office in Murcia the following year. However, she had to request a transfer to Palencia due to mediterranean climate affected her physique, returning to settle permanently in Canales.

The following year his delicate health deteriorated even more, passing away on October 10, 1927 in the family home when he was 53 years old, but not without leaving a legacy to be remembered in all the places he passed through.

In that same generation, Jovita and Evarista Rodríguez Álvarez began the teaching tradition at Casa'l Churro with their brother Gabino, something unusual in a family that had traditionally been working with iron. Both would be teachers in girls' schools, especially in southwestern Asturias, near the Besullo family home.

Jovita Rodríguez, in black dress, with the group of girls under her charge at the Besullo school

Jovita Rodríguez would consign the fee to obtain the professional title of Teacher of Higher Education on September 18, 1897. Appointed teacher in Lake Omaña (León) by competition, she took office on September 27 of that same year, remaining in office until October 17, 1898 with a salary of 125 pesetas. Vega in Gijón and Cimanes del Tejar (León) would be her next destinations before returning to Cangas when she was appointed as a teacher in Corias, taking office on November 11, 1899.

Just a year later she returned to Besullo, remaining in office until November 3, 1910 (salary of 625 pesetas), when she was transferred to Muñás (Luarca). It would not take long for her to return to the family village, this time permanently. Appointed on March 30, 1911, she would remain a quarter of a century as a teacher in Besullo, until in December 1936 she was dismissed for the charges brought against her by the Purification Commission dependent on the Civil Government of Oviedo, with effect from 17 July.

Despite being later rehabilitated, on June 23, 1942, she retired, ceasing to be Besullo's teacher on July 30 of that same year.

Evarista Rodríguez would spend almost all of her career as a teacher in Tineo, although one of her first experiences as an intern was at the Navia school at the end of 1903. Almost two years later she was assigned as a substitute for Calleras, Tineo parish located in the Cuarto de los Valles, although just a few months later the teachers' contest took her to Celón-Villagrufe.

Selce-Forniellas in Allande would be her next stop, participating in the opposition to higher schools for girls in 1909. As a result of these exercises, she would be proposed to occupy a place in the town of Tineo in May of that year, settling in the town for the rest of the year and her career and until the retirement.

Teresa Rodríguez Álvarez, inspectora de Enseñanza

Teresa Rodríguez, the first-born daughter of Gabino Rodríguez and Faustina Álvarez, was born in Canales (León) at the beginning of the 20th century. Being just a child, she would travel with her parents to Besullo, where both had been transferred as teachers, living a childhood of continuous changes of residence following in the footsteps of her parents.

In 1921 she was admitted to the Higher School of Teaching (Literature section) after passing the entrance exam, reason why she was replaced in her position in Corporales (Leon). Those higher studies made her also resign his appointment to Fresnosa (Langreo). Finally, in October 1926, she received the title of first school teacher.

Once the examinations for Inspectors of Primary Education were called in July 1928, in October she was confirmed as one of the applicants admitted to the process. At that stage she was promoted, and later transferred to the school of Agones (Pravia).

In June 1932, she obtained the same achievement as her mother, when she was appointed Inspector of Education in León. Just two months later, Teresa would accompany her father Gabino and her brothers Matutina, Alejandro and José on the first visit of the Pedagogical Missions to Besullo. She would repeat the experience in November traveling to Murias de Paredes and Valle Gordo (León) and again in the summer of 1933 in Besullo.

Her work as an inspector carried ver to the council of Cangas in the months of May-June 1935, and January-May 1936, visiting sixty-seven schools and collecting their impressions in a notebook that is a clear expression of the state of education in the area. After the Civil War, her health was in clear deterioration, and she moved to Galicia with her husband Florentino Hurlé,quitting her job as an inspector, but leaving behind a more than valuable legacy to understand the state of education in rural Asturias.

Matutina Rodríguez

The case of Matutina Rodríguez requires a separate chapter, because despite being also a teacher like her brothers, her work focused on the world of medicine. After spending the first years of her life in the Besullo family home, Matutina would move following the destinies of his parents: in Murcia and Palencia he would study High School, obtaining the Extraordinary High School Award.

That brilliant record would continue at the Central University of Madrid, receiving a scholarship at the Residencia de Señoritas (1921-1923), and achieving outstanding marks in all the subjects of the second year of Medicine. In 1924, she entered the San Carlos Hospital as an intern as number 1. An example of her interest in continuing to learn was her trip to Scotland in 1927 to improve her English. Later she got his first place as a doctor in Riotinto (Huelva). In October 1930 returned to Asturias, founding a children's clinic in Oviedo with her friend María Teresa Junquera.

Apart from her medical work, Matutina participated with several of her relatives in the two summer visits of the Pedagogical Missions to Besullo.

In June 1934, she would take charge of the Children's Hygiene Dispensary of the then province of Oviedo, simultaneously giving numerous talks on school hygiene. In September, her position as a childcare doctor at the Oviedo Institute of Child Hygiene would be confirmed. In this position faced the humanitarian disaster caused first by the 1934 revolution and later by the Civil War. Between both events she married (August 1935), with the prestigious doctor Antonio Martínez Torner, brother of the brilliant composer and musicologist Eduardo Martínez Torner.

As Provincial Chief of Children's Health, she planned and directed an ambitious maternal and child health program to which she devoted more than thirty years, practically until her premature death in 1964.

Jovita Rodríguez

This select group of women is completed by Jovita Rodríguez, who shared a name with her aunt and was the youngest of the marriage formed by Faustina Álvarez and Gabino Rodríguez. Jovita studied Teaching like the rest of her siblings, but her transfer to Catalonia when she married José Fau did not extend her ties to the family's teaching tradition.