Zurla, Placido

ZURLA, PLACIDO. - Cardinal, b. at Legnago (Verona) on 2 April 1769, d. in Sicily on 29 Oct. 1834.

In 1787 he took the Camaldolese habit at S. Michele di Murano near Venice, changing his baptismal name (Giacinto) to that of Placido. His preferred studies were the physical and mathematical sciences, beginning his activity (1790) with the dissertation Sulla forza d'inerzia e di attrazione secondo il sistema di Newton. There appeared subsequently 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). In 1802 another of his writings of theological-moral content had already appeared: Enchiridion dogmatum et morum. During the Napoleonic suppression of the Regulars he was tireless in the defense of S. Michele di Murano, of which he had meanwhile (1809) become abbot; when 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 some years spent as a professor in the Seminary of Venice, moved to Rome (1821) to the monastery of S. Gregorio al Celio. Elected consultor of various Congregations, associated with many academies, charged with reorganizing the Museo Borgiano and the Library of the Collegio Urbano di Propaganda, he was created cardinal by Pius VII on 10 March 1823; by Leo XII on 17 Nov. of that same year he was numbered among the members of the SS. Congregations of Propaganda Fide, of the Index, of Rites, of Indulgences and Relics, of the Examination of Bishops, and on 3 Jan. 1824 he was appointed Vicar for the city and diocese of Rome. As his first act, Z. provided for a new parish circumscription, reducing the parishes of Rome to 44, grouped into 14 districts; he called for respect for the churches and the decorum of sacred functions; he repressed certain grave abuses of public morality; he unmasked the true aims of the secret sects of the Transnomeni and the Carbonari; he organized the successful outcome of the jubilee year 1824-1825; he infused new life into the Roman Seminary, giving it better accommodation in the vast premises where the Collegio germanico-ungarico had previously been, and he helped the Pope in the reform of the great charitable institutions of the city. After the death of Leo XII, he received from Pius VIII confirmation as Vicar of Rome and in addition the prefecture of the S. Congr. of Studies (1829). It is to this period, through Z.'s efforts, that the "S. Cecilia" Academy of Sacred Music dates. With the election as Pontiff of his confrere and friend D. Mauro Cappellari (Gregory XVI), whom he was chosen to confess, Z. saw his work and responsibilities doubled, because he became the man of trust of the new Pope. Despite this, he did not forget his beloved studies, still 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 1835 at Rome, while others are preserved unpublished.

His zeal for archaeological research impelled him in 1834 to undertake a study journey to 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 funeral monument, commissioned by the piety of Gregory XVI, commemorates his memory.

Anselmo Giabbani