Blessed Pio Alberto Del Corona

Pio Alberto del Corona (5 July 1837 – 15 August 1912) - born Alberto del Corona and in religious Pio - was a Roman Catholic Italian prelate and the founder of the Suore Domenicane dello Spirito Santo. He served as the Bishop of San Miniato from 1897 until his resignation one decade later. The bishop served as a humble pastor though reluctant as he was to accept his episcopal appointment while even protesting against an idea to elevate him into the cardinalate. He exercised his duties until ill health forced him to resign from his see though was given a ceremonial position since Pope Pius X did not wish to relieve him of all his episcopal duties and functions. He was cleared for beatification in late 2014 after a miracle was found to have been attributed to his intercession. His beatification took place on 19 September 2015 in San Miniato; Cardinal Angelo Amato presided over the celebration on the behalf of Pope Francis. Alberto del Corona was born in Livorno on 5 July 1837 to Giuseppe del Corona and Ester Bucalossi (d. 1839) as their fourth and final child; his parents served as humble footwear retailers. He was baptized on 8 July in the Siena cathedral in the names of "Alberto Francesco Filomeno". He was often called "Albertino" as an affectionate name. His mother died in 1839 when he was barely two years old. He spent some time of his childhood in Tremoleto and studied under the Barnabites at the Collegio di San Sebastiano. He made his First Communion on 16 April 1851 in a Barnabite church. At the age of fourteen he joined the Conference of St. Vincent de Paul, and was praised for his work with poor families by the founder, Frédéric Ozanam, when Ozanam visited Livorno in 1853. Sometime between 1851 and 1854 Alberto became an associate member of the Dominican Third Order. He could not decide whether to join the Barnabites or the Dominicans, but after a visit to the Santuario della Madonna delle Grazie di Montenero, he opted for the Dominicans.