Hugh O'Flaherty

Kerry-born Catholic priest, stationed in Vatican City through the Second World War. Used his diplomatic protection to hide around 6,500 Jews and Allied soldiers in convents, monasteries, and apartments across Rome.

The Gestapo chief in Rome, Herbert Kappler, had a white line painted at the boundary of Vatican territory and gave orders to shoot O’Flaherty on sight if he crossed it. O’Flaherty crossed it nightly in various disguises. He also met his contacts on the steps of St Peter’s Basilica, in plain view of the German snipers on the line.

After the war Kappler was sentenced to life in an Italian prison. He received exactly one visitor each month. The visitor was O’Flaherty. In 1959, Kappler converted to Catholicism and was baptised by the priest he had tried to kill.