This is the schedule that the Father Pius Alberto Del Corona wrote and established for himself when he was a friar in the Convent of S. Marco in Florence; with few variations this schedule was practised also during his life as Bishop.

 

The facade of the Basilica of S. Marco

 

25 of October 1870

The Holy Spirit is Love

Rising I will bow at once, kissing the ground three times and saying; “My Jesus, I adore you, I thank you and I love you (three times). Adesto, Sancta Trinitas etc. As I dress I will recite the Miserere. Then I will read the Exercise of the morning. If there is time, I will recite a part of the Office of the B.V.Maria according to the Dominican rite.

Then I will go into the church. Visit to Jesus in Sacrament: Ave verum corpus natum ex Maria Virgine, vere passum, immolatum in cruce pro homine; cuis latus perforatum unda fluxit et sanguine; esto nobis pregustatum in mortis examine. Jesu dulcis, Jesu pie, Jesu fili Mariae, miserere nobis. – O Sacrum Convivium etc. - Panem De coelo etc. Oremus. Deus qui nobis etc

Acts of faith, hope, charity, penitence. A bit of meditation on the Eucharist. Preparation to the Mass.
The Mass is for me a meditation on the Passion of Jesus, and I will again think of the passages of the Gospel which remind us of the facts of the tragedy. My dearest passage is the Gethsemane. Elevating the challis, I will offer my life as one with Jesus for the health of all souls.

 

 

The steeple of the Basilica.

 

After the Mass, I will lie down on the ground and offer one thanks. And, if possible, I will do it at the time of a Mass.After the Chorus, I will say the prayers of the studio. And, after those prayers, I will repeat my dear formula of offering: I want to do this action for the mere and simple cause of the obedience, to do the will of God, to glorify my God, in Jesus, with Jesus, for Jesus, in the side of Jesus, in the arms of Maria; with desire to do many acts of love of God, of penitence, of humility, of desire to see God as many as there will be the moments of the whole eternity. Eternal Father, owing to the merits of the blood of Jesus, to the intercession of Maria, concede me many souls of Purgatory, many protestants, many infidels, many sinners, as many as there are the breathes that I will do. My care Angel, offer these my actions to God, understanding that I want to do them in Jesus, with Jesus, for Jesus.

This offering I will try to do in the morning, and every day. This usage has made me easy and sweet.

 

The interior of the Basilica of S. Marco (Florence) the largest altar seen from the entrance of the Church.

 

When I shall speak or read in public, I will say by heart: “My Jesus, everything for you. I want to do all in Jesus, with Jesus, for Jesus”.

When there is no lesson, I will study, which is my work. I will interact with aspirations and vibrations by heart to God along with the public lesson and the study.

I will always look towards the Tabernacle, and I will say by heart to myself: I was born to worship Jesus truly, really, in the present in the Sacrament.

In the temptations of depression or in troubles of any kind, I will say: I adore the Cross and the Blood of my God.

I will say a thousand and thousand times to Jesus: Jesus, purify my soul in your divine blood. Destroy all my iniquities in your divine blood. I burningly wish to see the eternal light of God. Looking at the sky, I will say the first article of the Symbol. Passing in front of the Crucifix: Adoramus te Christe, etc. Passing in front of Jesus in the Garden, I will say: I join myself to your agonizing Heart.

When the blessings of God made to me come into my mind, I will say: They are fruits of the petitions, of the tears, of the blood of Jesus.

Seeing my brothers, I will say: They are so many angels, so many saints. I worship and I love them because of their holiness and their science. I am the lowest of the priests, the most abominable of creatures. My Jesus, do not punish others in my place.

Hearing the faults of the others, I will say: I have been the cause of that with my sins, purify me in your divine blood.

At midday I will do some reading and I will be careful in examining the conscience of the humility of the heart. A visit to the Sacrament before choir.

 

 

The interior of the Basilica of S. Marco
 

 

The refectory will be the place of my meditations. I will hear the sacred readings with deep meditation, In my mind I will invoke my protective Saints, I will look at the mysteries of the Passion and I will think about the holy things studied.

At the end of lunch, I will say: Lord, I thank you so much for the many gifts that you have prepared for us in your great charity

In conversation with religious members I will remain glad, but I will hear others and I will speak little. At the beginning I will say: Lord, I want to do your will.

Going into my bedroom, I will prepare to render the second thanks of the Sacrament. Then I will go down into the church and I will do preparation for death in front of Jesus. Then, if they call me for work or ministry, I will say: I want to do all for the love of the divine Heart of Jesus.

Entering my cell, I will greet the S.S. Heart, saying: Sweet Heart of my Jesus, let me love you more and more; and all the times I will say the short prayer to Mary required every day* and give a kiss to the image of Mary of the Rosary.

If I am free, from 11PM till midnight**, I will go down into the church for meditation: The Passion, the Eucharist; two objects of lasting meditation.

From midnight on, I will study.

 

 

Convent of S. Marco: the cloister called S.Antonino.

 

During supper, I will invoke Saint Joachim, Saint Anne and all my friends the other Saints.

Retiring into my cell, I will spend one or two hours reading or praying. I will finish the office of Mary, I will say the exercise of the evening, I will honor Saint Joseph, I will do five crosses, to humble myself, on the ground, as Saint Leonard, I will say, the short prayer of Saint Stanislaw, five times,: O Maria, sis mihi propitia. I will say five times: Dear Saint Mary, I recommend my soul and my body to you, free me from every sin. Then I will go to sleep: I will say four Our Fathers, I will invoke Saint Benedict, Saint Scholastic, my friends, other Saints, and I will abandon myself into the arms of Jesus.

At the ringing of the hours, I will greet Saint Joseph; and at the tolling I will say with feeling: Eternal Father, the merits and the blood of Jesus to the poor in agony, to the exiles, to the pilgrims, to the prisoners, to the sick, to the poor, to the afflicted, to the heretics, to the infidels, to the sinners: let your charity descend on all the unhappy persons.

In the evening I will give the third thanks of the Sacrament. All the choirs and the meditations together with the religious people will be for me the thanks and a preparation to the Sacrament of all the days, and the Sacrament of all the days will be for me a preparation to the eternal Sacrament, of which the Viaticum is the prelude.

The spirit of all the exercises of pity will be to make thought of God and the love perpetual. Moreover, the last study must make my persuasion more intimate that I am made for heaven and there I must live; that goodness is tiring; that I must be glad to do this even with many contrasts and overcoming much reluctance of nature. To know my weakness, to bear that with serene joy, hopping always in the prayer and in the blood.

Then I will strive to be glad at what God gives me; but always ask the Holy Spirit for the intimate sorrow of having offended God and the tears and the flames, that are sign of compunction. The Sacrament, the Crucifix, the Virgin, the Angels, the Heaven, the eternal society of the children of God will be the focus of my lasting meditations.

The Holy Spirit is love.

 

 

Convent of S. Marco: the cloister called of S. Domenico

 

(*) In the Convent of S. Marco a table was kept empty, and was changed every month, with short prayers in Latin to the Virgin for every day.

(**) The 23rd and 24th hours must be understood not according to time measured by a clock, but by the sun: 24 indicates sunset, 23 an hour before sunset.