WelCom March 2023
The Vatican body that oversees the conservation and maintenance of St Peter’s Basilica has launched a new School of Arts and Trades to offer technical formation for future stonemasons, carpenters and marble craftspeople.
Twenty students attended their first day of classes on in January this year at the Fabric of Saint Peter as part of the new School of Arts and Trades.
The Fratelli Tutti Foundation helped set up the school in collaboration with the Fabric of Saint Peter, which oversees the conservation and maintenance of the Vatican Basilica.
The new students – 12 young men and eight young women – hail from Italy, Peru, Germany, and Belarus.
They will train to become stonemasons, marble workers, plasterers, interior decorators, and carpenters.
Each of the students has already received technical and artistic training, and the course aims to complete their formation through the expertise of the Sanpietrini, as the conservation experts of the Fabric of Saint Peter are known.
According to Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, President of the Fabric and Archpriest of St Peter’s Basilica, the School of Arts and Trades seeks to transmit centuries of practical know-how to younger generations.
‘The school will help us plant a seed in the soil of human promotion, of formation aimed at service to culture, to the women and men of our time and to the Church,’ the Cardinal said.
Students will reside at the ‘Villa Aurelia’ residence run by the Dehonian Fathers for the entire period of the six-month course.
The course objectives include the professional and personal growth of young artisans and the development of manual skills, along with formation in art history.
Teaching activities consist in cycles of lectures, seminars, guided tours, and study visits to various locations throughout Italy.
As apprentices, the 20 students will receive a full immersion in the technical and spiritual details of St Peter’s Basilica, the largest and arguably most important Christian church in the entire world.
Source: Vatican News