The Wartime Exploits of Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty by Brian Fleming.
Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty grew up in Killarney. Hugh had a vocation for the priesthood and as a young seminarian he was posted to Rome in 1922, the year Mussolini came to power in Italy.
In the autumn of 1942, the Germans and Italians began to crack down on prominent Italian Jews and aristocratic anti-fascists. Having socialised with these people before the war, the Monsignor now hid them in monasteries and convents, in his old college and in his own residence. In the spring of 1943, his operation broadened to include escaped British prisoners-of-war and shot-down allied airmen. He developed a network of safe apartments in Rome in which they could hide.
Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican
By the end of the war he had helped over 6,500 Jews, American and British Soldiers escape from the Germans and his activities earned him the nickname "Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican" as he became the master of disguises, evading capture from the Germans when he had to leave the security of the Vatican to go on his rescue missions.
This book chronicles the facinating bravery and wartime exploits of Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty.
