Zurla was born at
Legnago,
Veneto, of noble parents and
christened Giacinto (Hyacinth). At the age of eighteen Zurla entered the
Camaldolese Monastery of St. Michael, situated on the island of
Murano in the
Venetian Lagoon. When he entered the
novitiate of the monastery, he took the name Placid. There he found a lifelong friend in
Mauro Cappellari (afterwards Pope Gregory XVI), then a young monk of his own age. He became Lector in
philosophy and
theology, and in 1802 published a theological textbook. As librarian, his attention was attracted by the map of the world executed between 1457 and 1459 in that same monastery by the famous
Camaldolese cartographer Fra Mauro. In 1806 Zurla published an account of it entitled
Il Mappamondo di Fra Mauro. This led to further studies on early travelers, of which the most important result was the work, "Di Marco Polo e degli altri viaggiatori veneziano" (2 volumes, Venice, 1818–19). In 1809 Zurla was elected a
Definitor of his Congregation and given the title of
Abbot. The next year the monastery was
suppressed by order of
Napoleon I, but the monks kept up their college dressed as
secular priests. Of this institution Zurla acted as
Rector and Cappellari as Lector of philosophy until its complete dissolution in 1814. From that year he taught theology at the
Patriarchal Seminary of Venice till 1821, when he moved to Rome and resumed the white
habit of
St. Romuald at the Monastery of
St. Gregory the Great. By that time, Cappellari was
prior of that community.
Pope Pius VII named Zurla as a
consultor to various congregations and Prefect of Studies at the
Pontifical Urban College. in 1821 he received the
cardinal's hat, and in the following year the
titular see of
Archbishop of Edessa. He served as
Cardinal Vicar to
Pope Leo XII and his two successors, and took an active interest in the organization of the Roman seminary, the reform of criminal tribunals, the
delimitation of Roman parishes, and the affairs of the many
Sacred Congregations of which he was a member. Cardinal Zurla was greatly loved by his friends, but his zeal for the reform of abuses made him some enemies in Rome. He died at
Palermo in 1834. ==Works by Placido Zurla==