Monsignor O’Flaherty’s reputation undoubtedly suffered from the official disapproval of those who were involved with the British forces. Another definite reason for this lack of recognition lies within O’Flaherty himself. Not only was he a self-effacing man by nature, but it is clear that he did not consider his wartime work out of the ordinary. Sadly, it seems likely that the former factor was the predominant one in this lack of celebration of his outstanding achievements.
In preparation for the Holy Year of 1950 the Monsignor and Bishop John Smit wrote a guidebook to Rome entitled O Roma Felix. The book is an amazing amalgam of geography, history, culture and archaeology and, as such, is a very scholarly work and far richer in its content than the average guide book. No reference, of course, is made to the Monsignor’s wartime activities or indeed that period in the history of Italy, with one exception: the authors refer to the bronze statue in the centre of Rome of Marcus Aurelius which is the only work of its kind surviving from Imperial times. During the War, the statue was covered to protect it from the effects of bombing and the saying developed in Rome:
Quando Marco torna alla luce,
Non trova piu né Re né Duce.
Which they translate to mean more or less,
When Marcus again returns to the light,
He will find both King and Duce in flight.
Which is of course what came to pass.
O’Flaherty was proud of this book and his nephew recalls ‘he would boast about it as the best guidebook in Rome in contrast to his reticence in other directions.’20 This outstanding book was produced by the Monsignor and his colleague to benefit pilgrims and so he obviously felt it was reasonable to boast about it. By contrast, his work for those who were on the run from the authorities was merely fulfilling his responsibilities. As a Catholic priest he was preaching the word of God and it was his duty to practise it. Clearly, that is how he viewed his work for escapees and evaders. The rest of us, however, must conclude that he fulfilled his mission with extraordinary conviction, ingenuity, courage and compassion for his fellow man. Indeed this was a great and good man.
References
Chapter 1
1. Aidan O’Hara, I’ll live till I die: The story of Delia Murphy, p. 53.
2. Ibid. p. 52.
3. Ibid. p. 53
4. Ibid. p. 95.
5. National Archives, Department of Foreign Affairs papers.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
Chapter 2
1. O’Flaherty family archives.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. Vittoria Sermoneta, Sparkle Distant Worlds, p. 261.
13. The National Archives (UK), War Office papers.
14. National Archives, Department of Foreign Affairs papers.
15. Ibid.
16. MacWhite Archives: a letter to the Department of Foreign Affairs which most probably was never sent.
17. Sam Derry, The Rome Escape Line p.39.
18. J. P. Gallagher, The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican, pp. 30–1.
Chapter 3
1. John Keegan, The Second World War, p. 288.
2. MacWhite Archives, a letter to the Department of Foreign Affairs.
3. Ibid.
4. T. J. Kiernan, Pope Pius XII, p. 41.
5. R. Katz, Fatal Silence, p. 23.
6. MacWhite Archives, a coded cablegram to Department of Foreign Affairs.
7. Ibid.
8. Mother Mary St Luke, Inside Rome with the Germans, p. 2.
9. Ibid. pp. 2–3.
10. Ibid. p. 4–6.
11. Kiernan, op. cit., pp. 43–4.
12. Katz, op. cit., p. 43.
13. MacWhite Archives, a coded cablegram to Department of Foreign Affairs.
14. St Luke, op. cit., pp. 8–9.
15. Ibid. p. 10.
16. Ibid. p. 10.
17. Excerpt from D’Arcy Osborne’s diary, cited in Chadwick, Owen, Britain and the Vatican during the Second World War, p. 168.
18. Gallagher, op. cit., p. 32.
19. Ibid. p. 35.
Chapter 4
1. Sam Derry with David MacDonald, ‘Vatican Pimpernel’, Reader’s Digest, November 1975.
2. Sr Noreen Dennehy interviewed by Maurice O’Keeffe in January 2004; CD no. 65 in his Irish Life and Lore, Kerry Collection.
3. Gallagher, op. cit. p. 57.
4. Ibid. p.62.
5. St Luke, op. cit., p. 26.
6. Ibid. p. 27.
7. Ibid. pp. 28–9.
8. Ibid. p. 31.
9. Ibid. p.33.
10. MacWhite Archives, a coded cablegram to Department of Foreign Affairs.
11. Katz, op. cit., p. 84.
12. Katz, op. cit., p.109. Items in square brackets added by cryptographer.
13. St Luke, op. cit., pp. 38–9.
Chapter 5
1. Derry, op. cit., p. 33.
2. Ibid. pp. 38–9.
3. Ibid. p. 41.
4. Ibid. pp. 49–50.
5. Ibid. pp. 53–4.
6. Ibid. p. 56.
7. Ibid. p. 60.
8. Ibid. p. 62.
9. Sam Derry with David MacDonald, ‘Vatican Pimpernel’, Reader’s Digest, November 1975.
Chapter 6
1. O’Hara, op. cit., p. 115.
2. Ibid. p. 118.
3. Ibid. p. 119.
4. National Archives Department of Foreign Affairs papers.
5. Derry, op. cit., p. 64.
6. Ibid. p. 71.
7. Interview with Frank Lewis for his Saturday Supplement Programme on Radio Kerry, 11 June 1994.
8. Bill Simpson, A Vatican Lifeline ’44, p. 47.
9. Ibid. p. 52.
10. John Furman, Be not Fearful, p. 93.
11. Gallagher, op. cit., p. 107.
12. The National Archives (UK), War Office Papers.
Chapter 7
1. Simpson, op. cit., pp. 60–1.
2. Ibid. p. 62.
3. Furman, John, op. cit., pp. 96–7.
4. E. Garrad-Cole, Single to Rome, p. 9.
5. Ibid. p.13.
6. Ibid. p.18.
7. Ibid. pp. 89, 90.
8. Ibid. p.103.
9. Ibid. p.104.
10. Ibid. p.104.
11. Katz, R. op. cit., p. 128.
12. Sermoneta, op. cit., p. 224.
13. National Archives, Department of Foreign Affairs papers.
14. Ibid.
15. St Luke, op. cit., pp. 74–5.
16. Simpson, op. cit., p. 75.
17. Ibid. p.76.
18. Furman, op. cit., p. 108.
19. Ibid. p.109.
20. MacWhite Archives, a coded cablegram to Department of Foreign Affairs.
21. Ibid.
22. The National Archives (UK), War Office Papers.
Chapter 8
1. Simpson, op. cit., p. 81.
2. Ibid. p. 82.
3. Garrad-Cole, op. cit., pp. 86–8.
4. Derry, op. cit., p. 97.
5. Furman, op. cit., pp. 124–5.
6. Ibid. p. 125.
7. Ibid. p. 126.
8. D’Arcy Mander, Mander’s March on Rome, p. 104.
9. Ibid. p. 105.
10. Simpson, op. cit., p. 92.
11. Ibid. p. 92.
12. Gallagher, op. cit., pp. 117–8.
13. Ibid. p.117.
14. Ibid. p.116.
15. Ibid. p.117.
16. Derry, op. cit., pp. 108–9.
Chapter 9
1. Simpson, op. cit., pp. 124–5.
2. Ibid. p.104.
3. Derry, op. cit., p. 115.
4. The National Archives (UK), War Office Papers.
5. Gallagher, op. cit., p. 120.
6. Simpson, op. cit., p. 137.
> 7. Ibid. p. 138.
8. Derry, op. cit., p. 153.
9. St Luke, op. cit., p. 101.
10. Ibid. p. 94.
11. Sermoneta, op. cit., p. 235.
12. Paul Freyberg, Bernard Freyberg, VC: Soldier of Two Nations, p. 454.
13. MacWhite Archives, a diary entry.
14. MacWhite Archives, a coded cablegram to Department of Foreign Affairs
15. Roy Jenkins, Churchill p. 729.
16. The National Archives (UK), War Office Papers.
Chapter 10
1. Furman, op. cit., p. 140.
2. O’Hara, op. cit., p. 107
3. Kiernan, op. cit., p. 48.
4. Furman, op. cit., p. 174.
5. Ibid. p. 175.
6. Derry, op. cit., p. 130.
7. Ibid. p. 141.
8. Freyberg, op. cit., p. 40.
9. Furman, op. cit., p. 187.
10. MacWhite Archives, a diary entry.
11. William Newnan, Escape in Italy, p. 39.
12. Gallagher, op. cit., p. 146.
13. Ibid. p.13.
Chapter 11
1. Garrad-Cole, op. cit., p.112.
2. Ibid. pp. 113–4.
3. Ibid. p.115.
4. Ibid. p.117.
5. Katz, op. cit., p. 234–5.
6. Katz, op. cit., p. 226.
7. St Luke, op. cit., p. 145.
8. MacWhite Archives, a diary entry.
9. Katz, op. cit., p. 274.
10. In conversation with the author, 2007.
11. The National Archives (UK), War Office Papers.
12. The National Archives (UK), War Office Papers.
13. Furman, op. cit., p. 111.
14. Simpson, op. cit., p. 168.
15. MacWhite Archives, a letter to the Department of Foreign Affairs. The Battle of Actium took place in 31 BC.
16. St Luke, op. cit., p. 167.
17. Ibid. p.171.
18. Ibid. p.171.
19. Ibid. pp. 171–2.
20. The National Archives (UK), War Office Papers.
Chapter 12
1. MacWhite Archives, a diary entry.
2. Furman, op. cit., p. 206.
3. St Luke, op. cit., p. 173.
4. St Luke, op. cit., p. 174.
5. MacWhite Archives, a diary entry.
6. St Luke, op. cit., p. 178.
7. Furman, op. cit., p. 208.
8. Ibid. p. 103.
9. The National Archives (UK), War Office Papers.
10. Furman, op. cit., p. 209.
11. Ibid. p.209.
12. Ibid. p.209.
13. Ibid. p.211.
14. St Luke, op. cit., p. 180.
15. Ibid. p.184.
16. Ibid. p.187.
17. MacWhite Archives, a diary entry.
18. Furman, op. cit., p. 214.
19. St Luke, op. cit., pp. 189-90.
20. Ibid. p. 192.
21. Ibid. p. 192.
22. Gallagher, op. cit., p. 171.
23. Ibid. p. 171.
24. Ibid. p. 171.
25. Furman, op. cit., p. 218.
26. St Luke, op. cit., p. 195.
27. Katz, op. cit., p. 311.
28. St Luke, op. cit., pp. 200–1.
29. Harold Tittmann, Inside the Vatican of Pius XII, p. 210.
30. Furman, op. cit., p. 221.
31. Denis Johnston, Nine Rivers from Jordan. p. 251.
32. Ibid. p. 253.
33. Ibid. p. 250.
Chapter 13
1. Johnston, op. cit., pp. 249–253.
2. Kiernan, op. cit., p. 46.
3. Interview with Frank Lewis for his Saturday Supplement Programme on Radio Kerry 11 June 1994.
4. In correspondence with the author, 2007.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Sam Derry, interview with Frank Lewis.
8. Sam Derry with David MacDonald, ‘Vatican Pimpernel’, Reader’s Digest, November 1975.
9. The New York Times, 31 October 1963.
10. O’Flaherty family archive.
11. Sam Derry with David MacDonald, ‘Vatican Pimpernel’, Reader’s Digest, November 1975.
12. In conversation with the author, 2007.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid.
16. National Archives, Department of Foreign Affairs Papers.
17. Ibid.
18. Sermoneta, op. cit., p. 261.
19. In conversation with the author, 2007.
20. Ibid.
21. Ibid.
22. Ibid.
Chapter 14
1. National Archives, Department of Foreign Affairs Papers.
2. Fr Leonard Boyle interviewed by Maurice O’Keeffe in January 2004; CD no. 65 in his Irish Life and Lore, Kerry Collection.
3. Tittmann, op. cit., p. 97.
4. Ibid. p.189.
5. R. Trevelyan, Rome ’44; The Battle for the Eternal City, p. 16.
6. Furman, op. cit., p. 93.
7. In conversation with the author, 2007.
8. Sam Derry with David MacDonald, ‘Vatican Pimpernel’, Reader’s Digest, November 1975.
9. This is Your Life, BBC broadcast February 1963.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. Gallagher, op. cit., p. 184.
14. Interview with Frank Lewis for his Saturday Supplement Programme on Radio Kerry, 11 June 1994.
15. Fernande Leboucher, The Incredible Mission of Fr Benoit, p. 157.
16. O’Flaherty family archives.
17. M. Marchione, Yours is a Precious Witness, pp. 73–4.
18. Simpson, op. cit., p. iv.
19. Derry, op. cit., p. 4.
20. Hugh O’Flaherty, and John Smit, O Roma Felix p. 23.
21. In conversation with the author, 2007.
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