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Placido Zurla,O.S.B. Cam.,(April 2, 1769 – 29 October 1834) was anItalianCamaldolesemonkandprelate,who wasCardinal Vicar of Romeand a writer onmedievalgeography.
Placido Zurla | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Edessa | |
 | |
| Church | Catholic Church |
| Diocese | Edessa |
| Appointed | 13 January 1824 |
| Term ended | 29 October 1834 |
| Predecessor | Francesco Bertazzoli |
| Successor | Ignazio Giovanni Cadolin |
| Orders | |
| Created cardinal | 10 March 1823 byPope Pius VII |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 2 April 1769 |
| Died | 29 October 1834(aged 65) Palermo,Sicily |
Biography
editZurla was born atLegnago,Veneto,of noble parents andchristenedGiacinto (Hyacinth). At the age of eighteen Zurla entered theCamaldoleseMonastery of St. Michael,situated on the island ofMuranoin theVenetian Lagoon.When he entered thenovitiateof the monastery, he took the name Placid. There he found a lifelong friend inMauro Cappellari(afterwards Pope Gregory XVI), then a young monk of his own age.
He became Lector inphilosophyandtheology,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 famousCamaldolesecartographerFra Mauro.In 1806 Zurla published an account of it entitledIl 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 aDefinitorof his Congregation and given the title ofAbbot.The next year the monastery wassuppressedby order ofNapoleon I,but the monks kept up their college dressed assecular priests.Of this institution Zurla acted asRectorand Cappellari as Lector of philosophy until its complete dissolution in 1814. From that year he taught theology at thePatriarchal Seminary of Venicetill 1821, when he moved to Rome and resumed the whitehabitofSt. Romualdat the Monastery ofSt. Gregory the Great.By that time, Cappellari waspriorof that community.
Pope Pius VIInamed Zurla as aconsultorto various congregations and Prefect of Studies at thePontifical Urban College.in 1821 he received thecardinal's hat,and in the following year thetitular seeofArchbishop of Edessa.He served asCardinal VicartoPope Leo XIIand his two successors, and took an active interest in the organization of the Roman seminary, the reform of criminal tribunals, thedelimitationof Roman parishes, and the affairs of the manySacred Congregationsof 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 atPalermoin 1834.
Works by Placido Zurla
editSources
edit
- The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Giacinto Placido Zurla".Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.