21 IL CAPITALE CULTURALE Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage eum Rivista fondata da Massimo Montella Ines Ivić, «Recubo praesepis ad antrum»: The Cult of Saint Jerome in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome at the End of the 13th Century «Il capitale culturale», n. 21, 2020, pp. 87-119 ISSN 2039-2362 (online); DOI: 10.13138/2039-2362/2234 «Recubo praesepis ad antrum»: The Cult of Saint Jerome in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome at the End of the 13th Century Ines Ivić* Abstract This paper analyzes the setting up of the cult of Saint Jerome in Rome at the end of the 13th century in the papal basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. It observes the development of the cult as part of the renovations of the church during the pontificate of Nicholas IV and the patronage of the Colonna family. It argues that it happened during the process of Franciscanization of the church and making the ideological axis between the Roman basilica and new papal basilica in Assisi, stressed also in their pictorial decorations – the mosaics in the apse in Rome, and the Life of Saint Francis in Assisi. It also studies the construction of Jerome’s Roman identity in correlation with the confirmation of Santa Maria Maggiore church as a “second Bethlehem” after the fall of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, reflecting upon the leading proponents of the idea, architectural setting, artistic production and hagiographical texts produced to uphold this idea. *Ines Ivić, PhD Candidate, Central European University (CEU), Department of Medieval Studies, Nádor utca 9, H-1051 Budapest, e-mail:
[email protected].