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Authors: Brian Fleming
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Three, gave him 150,000 lire. Between September 1943 and June 1944 the value of the lira depreciated by 500 per cent. This, the first of many donations which the Prince and his family gave, was worth about £2,000 at that time (the equivalent of approximately â¬100,000 in current terms). Sr Noreen Dennehy a young Kerrywoman, became an unwitting transporter of these donations.
He would bring a letter up to the convent and Mother Superior would give it to me to take down to this princess, wait for an answer and bring it back. He would come back to the convent later on and pick it up. I could never understand what was going on ⦠I wasnât told anything ⦠why is it that he could not go down and pick it up himself. After all he had a car. After the War was over Mother Superior did say to me one day âYou were very lucky that you werenât held up or put in jail.â I said âwhat did I doâ â¦âNever mind âtis all over now.â 2
Mother Superior had decided not to tell the young nun that she was in fact transporting cash for fear that she might become nervous and attract attention. These donations continued even when the Prince and his family had themselves to go into hiding in Rome.
Another who found himself some time later as an unwitting transporter of cash was Fr Seán Quinlan (later Monsignor). The Quinlan family had been neighbours of the OâFlahertys in Mangerton View in Killarney and Seán remembered being carried as a child on Hughâs shoulders on many occasions. He arrived in Rome in 1938 and renewed the acquaintance. He recalls being in the Monsignorâs office one day and being handed a large envelope which he was asked to bring to a particular address about a mile along the Tiber away from the Vatican. His instruction was âto hand it over to Giovanniâ and he did so. Later that evening he met Monsignor OâFlaherty who casually told him that the envelope contained one million lire. Many years later Fr Quinlan remarked that on that day he was very close to being either a millionaire or dead.
These various contributions enabled the Council to increase greatly the number of localities they could use because they were now in a position to support financially those who were accommodating the escapees. Inevitably, however, as they became more successful, the number of requests grew. This, in turn, increased the risks to OâFlaherty and his colleagues as more and more people became aware of their work. The Monsignor spent countless hours visiting the various locations in which escapees were lodged and bringing escapees to them, often ignoring curfew regulations. During the course of this work he had some narrow escapes. Indeed we will never know all the details because of his self-effacing attitude towards his work.
As time went by, the authorities gradually became aware of his activities and Kappler, the Head of the Gestapo in Rome, arranged for a watch to be kept on the houses of known associates of his, including that of Prince Doria. One day in the early autumn of 1943, OâFlaherty visited the Palazzo on the Via delle Corso where the Prince lived, to collect a contribution. The watching Gestapo officers immediately alerted Kappler who arrived with a large force minutes later. From an upstairs window in the room where the Prince and the Monsignor were talking, the Princeâs secretary noticed the commotion and raised the alarm. This gave OâFlaherty a few minutesâ warning of the impending search. The Monsignor immediately took his leave of the Prince, not forgetting to take the donation of funds. He had no particular plan in mind but he was aware that the Palazzo was a huge building and so presumably thought he had some chance of escape. Instinctively he went down to the basement of the house. Meanwhile the Princeâs servants delayed the admission of the Gestapo for as long as they could. On arriving in the basement,
He would bring a letter up to the convent and Mother Superior would give it to me to take down to this princess, wait for an answer and bring it back. He would come back to the convent later on and pick it up. I could never understand what was going on ⦠I wasnât told anything ⦠why is it that he could not go down and pick it up himself. After all he had a car. After the War was over Mother Superior did say to me one day âYou were very lucky that you werenât held up or put in jail.â I said âwhat did I doâ â¦âNever mind âtis all over now.â 2
Mother Superior had decided not to tell the young nun that she was in fact transporting cash for fear that she might become nervous and attract attention. These donations continued even when the Prince and his family had themselves to go into hiding in Rome.
Another who found himself some time later as an unwitting transporter of cash was Fr Seán Quinlan (later Monsignor). The Quinlan family had been neighbours of the OâFlahertys in Mangerton View in Killarney and Seán remembered being carried as a child on Hughâs shoulders on many occasions. He arrived in Rome in 1938 and renewed the acquaintance. He recalls being in the Monsignorâs office one day and being handed a large envelope which he was asked to bring to a particular address about a mile along the Tiber away from the Vatican. His instruction was âto hand it over to Giovanniâ and he did so. Later that evening he met Monsignor OâFlaherty who casually told him that the envelope contained one million lire. Many years later Fr Quinlan remarked that on that day he was very close to being either a millionaire or dead.
These various contributions enabled the Council to increase greatly the number of localities they could use because they were now in a position to support financially those who were accommodating the escapees. Inevitably, however, as they became more successful, the number of requests grew. This, in turn, increased the risks to OâFlaherty and his colleagues as more and more people became aware of their work. The Monsignor spent countless hours visiting the various locations in which escapees were lodged and bringing escapees to them, often ignoring curfew regulations. During the course of this work he had some narrow escapes. Indeed we will never know all the details because of his self-effacing attitude towards his work.
As time went by, the authorities gradually became aware of his activities and Kappler, the Head of the Gestapo in Rome, arranged for a watch to be kept on the houses of known associates of his, including that of Prince Doria. One day in the early autumn of 1943, OâFlaherty visited the Palazzo on the Via delle Corso where the Prince lived, to collect a contribution. The watching Gestapo officers immediately alerted Kappler who arrived with a large force minutes later. From an upstairs window in the room where the Prince and the Monsignor were talking, the Princeâs secretary noticed the commotion and raised the alarm. This gave OâFlaherty a few minutesâ warning of the impending search. The Monsignor immediately took his leave of the Prince, not forgetting to take the donation of funds. He had no particular plan in mind but he was aware that the Palazzo was a huge building and so presumably thought he had some chance of escape. Instinctively he went down to the basement of the house. Meanwhile the Princeâs servants delayed the admission of the Gestapo for as long as they could. On arriving in the basement,
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