ZURLA, PLACIDO. — Cardinal, born at Legnago (Verona) on 2 April 1769, died in Sicily on 29 October 1834.
In 1787 he took the Camaldolese habit at S. Michele di Murano near Venice, changing his baptismal name (Giacinto) to Placido. His preferred studies were the physical and mathematical sciences, and he began his activity (1790) with the dissertation Sulla forza d'inerzia e di attrazione secondo il sistema di Newton. This was followed by Sui Mappamondo di fra Mauro camaldolese (1806); Intorno ai viaggi e scoperte settentrionali di Nicolò e Antonio fratelli Zeni (1808); Di Marco Polo e degli altri viaggiatori veneziani più illustri (2 vols., 1818), a Commentario sulle antiche Mappe idro-geografiche lavorate in Venezia, and a Vita di Marco Polo (1818). Another work of theological-moral content had already appeared in 1802: Enchiridion dogmatum et morum. During the Napoleonic suppression of the Regulars, he was indefatigable in defending S. Michele di Murano, of which he had meanwhile (1809) become abbot; after the monastery was suppressed (1810), Z. attempted after 1815 to restore its fortunes, but in vain. In 1818 Murano passed to the Franciscans and Z., after spending several years as a professor in the Seminary of Venice, moved to Rome (1821), to the monastery of S. Gregorio al Celio. Appointed consultor to various Congregations, associated with numerous academies, and entrusted with reorganizing the Borgian Museum and the Library of the Collegio Urbano of Propaganda, he was created cardinal by Pius VII on 10 March 1823; on 17 November of that same year, Leo XII appointed him a member of the Holy Congregations of Propaganda Fide, of the Index, of Rites, of Indulgences and Relics, and of the Examination of Bishops, and on 3 January 1824 appointed him Vicar for the city and diocese of Rome. As his first act, Z. arranged a new parochial division, reducing the parishes of Rome to 44, grouped into 14 districts; he called for respect for churches and decorum in sacred functions; suppressed certain serious abuses affecting public morality; exposed the true aims of the secret societies of the Transnomeni and the Carbonari; organized the successful celebration of the jubilee year 1824–1825; infused new life into the Roman Seminary, giving it better accommodations in the spacious premises formerly occupied by the German-Hungarian College, and assisted the Pope in reforming the great charitable institutions of the city. After Leo XII’s death, Pius VIII confirmed him as Vicar of Rome and additionally appointed him prefect of the S. Congregation of Studies (1829). The « S. Cecilia » Academy of Sacred Music dates from this period and was established through Z.’s efforts. With the election as Pontiff of his confrere and friend, D. Mauro Cappellari (Gregory XVI), whose confessor he was chosen to be, Z. saw his work and responsibilities doubled, for he became the new Pope’s trusted man. Nevertheless, he did not neglect his cherished studies, writing Sui vantaggi della Religione alla geografia e scienze annesse (1822); Sui vantaggi della Religione alla poesia (1826); Sulla unità del soggetto nel quadro della Trasfigurazione di Raffaello (1830); Del gruppo della Pietà... di Antonio Canova (1834). All these works were published in Rome in 1835, while others remain unpublished.
His zeal for archaeological research led him in 1834 to undertake a study journey in Sicily, where, after a few days of illness, he was overtaken by death. He was buried in the church of S. Gregorio al Celio, and a funerary monument, commissioned by the devotion of Gregory XVI, preserves his memory.
D. P. Del Signore, Oraz. nei funerali del card. Z., Rome 1835; P. E. Visconti, Elogio di Z., there 1836; F. Severino, Notizie sulla vita e le opere di P. Z., Milan 1857; Moroni, CIII, 493; A. Grego, Il card. P. Z., Milan 1934; A. Zavaglio, Il card. P. Z., Crema 1936. Anselmo Giabbani