Jasenka Gudelj
The church now known as San Girolamo dei Croati in Rome has played a considerable role in shaping of the Early Modern proto-national identity of the Schiavoni/Illyrians between 15th and 18th century. In 1453, Pope Nicholas V Parentucelli (1397-1455) granted the ruined church of Santa Marina, located at the smaller of the two Roman ports, Ripetta, to Dalmatiae et Schiavonae nationum, with permission to reconstruct it and dedicate it to Saint Jerome. The church was completely rebuilt by Sixtus V Peretti (1585-1590) according to the designs by Martino Longhi the Elder (1534-1591).
The research examines the politics of building and decorating San Girolamo degli Schiavoni, with focus on the comparison of papal interventions and the confraternity patronage, as this reflected the positioning of the “natio” in question within the universe of the Roman ‘national’ churches and he papal policy towards the South-East edge of the Catholic Europe.
