According to today's Irish Independent( www.irishindependent.ie.com, Nov 12, 2012) , the late Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, "The Scarlet Pimpernel Of The Vatican"- played by the late Gregory Peck, himself of Irish Catholic descendance in the 1983 TV movie "The Scarlet and the Black"- was officially honoured in his native Ireland for saving thousands of Jews( more than Oskar Schindler or Raoul Wallenberg) and Allied POWs( including of course British, despite his admittedly anti-British sentiments - several of his closest friends were shot by the "Black and Tans"( see Wikipedia entries for "Hugh O'Flaherty" and "Black and Tans") during the struggle for Irish independence 1919-1921).
To my mind, never mind about officially honouring him by the Irish Government( during his lifetime, O'Flaherty was decorated by the British and US Governments and was even instrumental in the reception of his one-time nemesis SS Colonel Herbert Kappler into the Catholic Church in 1959- O'Flaherty really WAS one of the "treasures of the Church" as Pope Pius XII-played in the film by the late John Gielgud), if the Vatican can beatify Sara Salkahazi for saving the lives of those threatened by extermination or persecution, then why no do the same for the long dead O'Flaherty???
Terry
To my mind, never mind about officially honouring him by the Irish Government( during his lifetime, O'Flaherty was decorated by the British and US Governments and was even instrumental in the reception of his one-time nemesis SS Colonel Herbert Kappler into the Catholic Church in 1959- O'Flaherty really WAS one of the "treasures of the Church" as Pope Pius XII-played in the film by the late John Gielgud), if the Vatican can beatify Sara Salkahazi for saving the lives of those threatened by extermination or persecution, then why no do the same for the long dead O'Flaherty???
Terry