VISITS to three embassies, two colleges, an abbey and a war cemetery were all included in an event-packed tour of Rome undertaken by the Killarney-based Hugh O’Flaherty Memorial Society.
The five-day trip included a tour of the 1,000-room Palace of Princess Gesine Doria Pamphilj and a St Peter’s Square audience with Pope Francis.
Society Chairman, Jerry O’Grady, said while it was the fourth tour in eight years, it included a first time visit to the historic Vatican Gardens where Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty and Major Sam Derry hid their Escape Line records in biscuit tins buried in flowerbeds.
It also included a full access visit to the now derelict Chapel at Acqua Santa Golf Club where Monsignor Hugh ministered to eastern European refugees for over 10 years after the war ended.
“We were told that the monsignor frequently received aid parcels of food, medicines and clothes from Killarney and from his friends in New York, giving rise to the comment that they were the best dressed refugees in Italy,” said Jerry.
Over 70 people joined the 75th anniversary tour and the group was received at the Irish Embassy, the British Embassy and the US Embassy to the Holy See.
In her address at the US Embassy reception, US Holy See Ambassador, Callista Gingrich, remarked: “We’re here to honour the memory of an extraordinary man, whose name will live on through history. We’re also here because your society has faithfully carried forward Monsignor O’Flaherty’s mission and values”.
There was a unique meeting between Monsignor Hugh’s Rome golf caddie Roberto Bernardini – who later turned professional – and the monsignor’s nephew, retired judge Hugh O’Flaherty.
June 4 next is the official date of the 75th anniversary of the Liberation of Rome and it will be marked in Killarney by special events including a free to public performance of Donie Courtney’s one-man play, God Has No Country and the presentation of the 2019 Humanitarian Award to the members of the Irish Defence Forces who have served with UN peacekeeping missions overseas since 1958.
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