Vatican Unveils Plaque in Honor of Msgr. Hugh O’Flaherty

He was the Irish priest who saved 6500 lives, most of them Jewish, from the Nazis.  A clever man with a knack for cloak and dagger disguises, he earned the nickname “Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican”.

His arch-enemy, Herbert Kappler, was a member of the SS and Chief of Police in Rome.  He tried and failed to capture O’Flaherty and was, at war’s end, arrested and jailed for war crimes.  Jailed, one of his only visitors was O’Flaherty.  He eventually became a Catholic.

There’s a pretty good film about O’Flaherty starring Gregory Peck called The Scarlet and the Black.