If you’ve ever wondered just how they clean one of the largest churches in the world, a paper in Canada has kindly provided the answer:

As the tomb of the first pope and the principal church of most of his 264 successors, St. Peter’s Basilica is Roman Catholicism’s greatest shrine. It’s also a treasure trove of artistic riches, with works by such artists as Michelangelo, Raphael and Bernini.

At over 600 feet long, with a dome 450 feet high, it is one of the biggest churches in the world. And with millions of visitors per year, it is one of the busiest tourist attractions anywhere.

Keeping the mother church of Catholicism running — and tidy — is, not surprisingly, a monumental task. Yet it’s a job entrusted to a corps of just 75 men. Whether the job is reminding visitors to doff their baseball caps, or dusting a cornice 175 feet above the marble floor, it falls to one of the basilica’s “Sanpietrini.”

Until just a few decades ago, the Sanpietrini were the literal heirs of the craftsmen who built the current basilica in the 16th and 17th centuries (on the site of its fourth-century predecessor). The jobs were traditionally passed down from father to son until Pope Paul VI (1963-1978) imposed an anti-nepotism rule.

Now the rare vacancies are filled from more than 100 applicants per year, with a preference for those already trained in a certain skill, such as carpentry, electrical work or painting trompe-l’oeil marbling on plaster walls.

A tolerance for heights is also required, in order to maintain the basilica’s hardest-to-reach corners.

Twice a year, workers clean Bernini’s 90-foot-high canopy over the main altar, using a centuries-old method that has earned them the nickname “The Flying Sanpietrini.” Tied to small wooden seats hanging by hemp ropes, they are gradually lowered to the floor, dusting off the twisting bronze columns and spraying them with a waterproofing solution on their way down.

“It’s a tradition, but it’s also the only way to get the right result,” said Marco Panci, a veteran Sanpietrino. “With modern machines it’s just not the same.”

When they are not busy with cleaning or repairs, Sanpietrini take turns at surveillance work, keeping watch at the entrance and throughout the vast basilica. This assignment has become more arduous in recent years, with a steep rise in the number of visitors following the Jubilee year of 2000 and the funeral of Pope John Paul II in 2005.

“We no longer have any more dead periods,” said Cardinal Angelo Comastri, president of the Fabbrica di San Pietro, the Vatican office that runs the basilica. He is also the basilica’s archpriest and the pope’s vicar general, or acting bishop, for the Vatican City State.

Check the link for more. It’s not exactly light housekeeping, keeping up the house of God…

As a footnote: I remember being astonished when we toured St. Peter’s to learn that it was just fine to take flash photographs…because all the decorative work inside, which appeared to be painted on the walls, was in fact, mosaics. Small chips of stone elegantly and carefully placed to look like paint. Incredible. But true.