Free The Vatican Pimpernel by Brian Fleming Page A

position was visible from the Pope’s study.
    Despite all these concerns about his safety, and all the advice he was given in that regard, O’Flaherty still regularly ventured onto the streets of Rome. He did not always use the clothes normally worn by somebody in religious life and was known to disguise himself frequently as a street cleaner. At other times, he went through the streets of Rome dressed as a labourer or a postman. Anecdotal evidence would suggest that he also, on occasion, disguised himself as a nun. (It is hardly likely that nuns over six foot tall were a normal feature of life in Rome at that time, but then again, the Germans were looking for a priest. The Germans’ literal interpretation of instructions probably saved him.) This sort of activity subsequently earned him the nickname ‘the Pimpernel of the Vatican’. He got help in all sorts of unusual places. He had made a practice for many years of saying an early Sunday morning mass which was availed of mainly by men who worked on the trolley-car system in Rome. These proved to be an invaluable source of support and help when he was moving escapees through Rome in subsequent years.
    During this period, the Monsignor had to attend to his normal work at the Holy Office so John May kept daylight watch near St Peter’s. One of the first people to approach him was a Corporal, Geoffrey Power, who arrived there one day, like so many others, with no particular plan in mind. May noticed him and took him in charge, bringing him to O’Flaherty in whose office he stayed during that day. That night, O’Flaherty brought him to the Via Chelini apartment. A few days later he was moved on to live with an Italian family for the remainder of the War.
    The experience of an Irish Augustinian priest, Kenneth Madden, gives an indication of O’Flaherty’s ways of recruiting people to help. Fr Madden was a young man who had been ordained in Rome in 1943. A nun who worked in one of the hospitals in Rome told him about an Italian family she knew of, living on the outskirts of the city, who were looking after a young British soldier who had escaped from a prisoner-of-war camp. The family were nervous and wanted to move this young man on. Fr Madden had known Monsignor O’Flaherty for years but had no idea of the work his fellow Irishman was undertaking. However, he knew him as a man who could be approached if one needed help and so told him the story. The Monsignor helped this family and moved the young British soldier to a safer location with Fr Madden’s assistance. Soon, Fr Madden found himself deeply involved in the work. One day Monsignor O’Flaherty contacted him with a request to make a delivery to ‘a few of the boys’. The delivery in fact was a caseload of medicine. Fr Madden was occupied with his duties and asked a friend of his, Fr John Buckley, to do the delivery. In this way, Fr Buckley also became an active member of the escape organisation.
    The Monsignor was at his usual post on the steps one evening when he was approached by a German Jew who was living in Rome. The Jew told the Monsignor that he and his wife expected to be arrested at any time and brought back to Germany. His concern was for their small son who was only seven, and so he was seeking the Monsignor’s help. He handed over to the Monsignor a very valuable gold chain and asked that the Irishman would use this to secure his son’s safety.
    â€˜I have a better plan. I will put the boy somewhere safe and I will look after the chain for you. I will not use it unless I have to. I will get you and your wife new papers, Italian papers, and you can continue to live openly in Rome.’ 4
    Princess Nini produced the papers and the father and mother survived in Rome until the city was liberated. O’Flaherty placed the son in safe-keeping, probably in one of the religious houses, and the family were reunited a few days after the Allies entered