San Girolamo degli Schiavoni/ Illyrians/ Croats in 'Roma communis patria': Constructing National Identity Through Papal Interventions

This essay examines the positioning of the Schiavoni, i.e. Illyrians/ Croats, within Roma communis patria in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries through papal commissions of architecture and painting related to the church of San Girolamo degli Schiavoni. It assesses the gestures made by Nicholas V and Sixtus V towards this particular ethnic group against the background of papal foreign policy and the Papacy’s approach to the urban problems of Rome, and explores the promotion of the cults of national saints. The disentanglement of the group’s dynamics and its interplay with the Curia not only sheds light on the minute mechanisms of artistic and architectural patronage as they relate to 'national' churches, but also redefines the approach to identity issues often understood as exclusively powered by 'national' forces.