rom to 1942-43, Monsignor Hugh
O’Flaherty was the most-wanted man in Rome. During this time, he saved at least 6,500 Jews and Allied soldiers from near-certain death.
O’Flaherty was a brawny man, who stood 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighted over 200 pounds. Those who met him said his eyes twinkled behind his cheap wire-frame eyeglasses.
He was known and loved by many for his authentic Irish charm and for his deep compassion for all who suffered, and he inspired affection and trust in people from all levels of society.
Born in Lisrobin, County Cork Feb. 28, 1898, to Margaret and James O’Flaherty, Hugh called himself a loyal Kerryman having grown up on the Killarney golf course in County Kerry, where his father worked as a steward. O’Flaherty played an impressive golf game and excelled at boxing and hurling.
Some people looked askance when he later became amateur golf champion of Italy.
O’Flaherty’s powerful education
In 1918 O’Flaherety enrolled at the Jesuit Mungret College in County Limerick, to train as a missionary priest.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in theology, at the Urban College of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith in Rome, and was ordained in December 1925.
He then earned then doctorates in canon law, divinity, and philosophy, and remained to work as a diplomat for the Holy See.
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