New students at Vatican's school for artisans include an American

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A unique school at the Vatican dedicated to encouraging young people to practice traditional crafts and skills that risk dying out has accepted a student from the United States to attend its specialized courses.

The School of Fine Arts and Traditional Trades of the Fabbrica di San Pietro was launched in 2022. It is modeled after the artisan school and apprenticeships St. Peter's Basilica ran centuries ago, and enrollment, including room and board, is completely free.

The school offers six-month programs in woodworking, masonry and plastering, stonework and carving, and mosaics, but it chooses only about 20 students from among the applicants after a monthslong selection process.

Most students are from Italy, but this year, the new student body includes someone from the United States, the Fabbrica said in a press release Oct. 31. The office did not identify the student.

Classes were set to begin Nov. 4 for the 13 women and seven men, aged 18 to 25, and run through the end of April. Students combine in-class lessons, seminars and guided tours with hands-on practice at the basilica's workshops with the basilica's artists.

"The goal of the training courses is the professional and human growth of young artisans and the development of manual skills together with learning art history, knowledge about materials being used and acquiring technical and technological skills," the Fabbrica said.

The school, which is sponsored by the Fabbrica -- the office responsible for the basilica's upkeep -- and the Fratelli Tutti Foundation, also combines practical learning with "human and spiritual" development, the press release said.

"In fact, the students live together in the housing provided free of charge for the entire duration of the courses, precisely to foster aspects of building community and relationships as well," it added.

Pope Francis and others wanted to establish the free-of-charge School of Fine Arts and Traditional Trades to pass on traditional knowledge and skills to young people by the basilica's best workers.