Page 34 - Garda Journal Winter 2019

HISTORY | Hugh O’Flaherty
MONSIGNOR HUGH O’FLAHERTY
The Vatican
Pimpernel
Pat Burke takes a look at the remarkable story of Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, a man who put himself between the Nazi murder machine and those whom it sought to exterminate.
Hugh O’Flaherty was born on February 28th 1898 in Cahirciveen, Co. Kerry. He studied theology at the seminary in Killarney and then at the Jesuit College in Mungret. During the Anglo-Irish Troubles, he was arrested by the Auxiliaries while returning from the funeral of the Bishop of Limerick. Luckily, he was released on the intercession of the Jesuits. During the 1919-21 period, the Mungret Jesuits sheltered many Irish families, who had been evicted or burned out of their homes. In 1921, Hugh O’Flaherty was transferred to the Propaganda Fides College in Rome, where he was ordained in 1925. During this time, he greatly impressed the Papal authorities. He became a Vatican diplomat and was posted to a number of countries, including Egypt, Haiti, Santo Domingo and Czechoslovakia. By his early 30s, he had earned three doctorates, and had been made a Monsignor. In 1934, he returned to Rome and was assigned to a senior position in the Holy Office. Hugh O’Flaherty was also a fine amateur golfer, and regularly played golf with the exiled King Alfonso of Spain and Benito Mussolini’s son-in-law, Count Ciano. The Lateran Treaty of 1925 left the tiny 110 acre Vatican as a neutral state, while Mussolini controlled the rest of the country. In 1933, Hitler and Mussolini signed
having some of them transferred. Through the Red Cross, he brought books and food parcels to Allied prisoners. Taking the names of prisoners, he later read them out on Vatican Radio, letting their families know they were safe. O’Flaherty’s humanitarian efforts often made his Vatican superiors uneasy. His efforts also offended Irish diplomat Michael MacWhite. MacWhite, a former member of the first Dáil, was incensed with O’Flaherty and made a scathing complaint to the Dept.of External Affairs in Dublin. Despite this, the Irish Ambassador to the Vatican, Thomas Kiernan and his well-known wife Delia Murphy, put their household at the disposal of the Monsignor for his activities during those turbulent years.
Hugh O’Flaherty began smuggling and hiding refugees in the late 1942, when the Italians were forced to intern prominent Jews and leading anti-Fascists. O’Flaherty, who had socialised with many of these people before the war, was now helped to hide them in monasteries and convents throughout Rome. In the spring of 1943, his operation broadened to include escaped British POWs. His new contact, Sir Francis D’Arcy Godolphin Osborne, was Britain’s Vatican envoy. The POWs were safe within the Vatican, but could not rejoin their fighting units. Sir Francis’ position prevented him from leaving the Vatican, so O’Flaherty developed a network of apartments in Rome, where they could hide. After the Allies landed in Sicily, the Fascist Grand Council deposed Mussolini. Almost at once, the new Italian government began secret talks with the Allies. In September 1943, they capitulated, and thousands of Allied POWs were freed. Many of these men succeeded in reaching
“the Pact of Steel, an agreement that would later commit both countries to each others aid in the war to come.
During the Second World War, thousands of Allied soldiers were taken prisoner during the initial North African campaign. Now imprisoned in POW camps throughout Italy, neutral Vatican officials were permitted to visit these camps. Hugh O’Flaherty, fluent in three languages, was appointed as a translator. On inspecting these camps, he was horrified at their treatment. He made vigorous protests about several camp commandants, and even succeeded in
There is a tree called freedom and it grows, Somewhere in the hearts of men, Rain falls, ice freezes, wind
blows, The tree shivers, steadies itself again, Steadies itself like Hugh O’Flaherty’s hand, Guiding trapped and hunted people, day and night,to what all hearts love and understand, The tree of freedom upright in the light.”- ‘Hugh O’Flaherty’s Trees’, Brendan Kennelly.
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