The Scarlet and the Black, a drama film about the WWII efforts of an Irish Vatican priest and his friends to help people in need

[thorbiorn]

The Irish are mostly Catholics and have been so since the days of Saint Patrick (385-461), commemorated every year on March 17. Recently I was recommended a film by an Irish friend, based on a real life story of an Irish priest who worked at the Vatican during WWII and did some amazing work, that apparently is not particularly well known today even in his home country. The reason for this might be that he was not invested in helping only one side, he was ready to assist the former oppressors if they became unduly oppressed by the formerly oppressed.

Below are some notes about the film and the main characters as they were in real life, followed by a few reflections.

YouTube: MJFF Virtual Cinema: THE SCARLET AND THE BLACK [FULL MOVIE]

The Wiki about the film:

The Scarlet and the Black is a 1983 Italian-American international co-production made-for-television historical war drama film directed by Jerry London, and starring Gregory Peck and Christopher Plummer. Based on J. P. Gallagher's book The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican (published in 1967), the film tells the story of Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, a real-life Irish Catholic priest who saved thousands of Jews and escaped Allied POWs in Rome.[1]

The title The Scarlet and the Black is a reference not only to the black cassock and scarlet sash worn by Monsignores and bishops in the Catholic Church, but also to the dominant colors of Nazi Party regalia.

From the Wiki of the real life of, Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty:

Hugh O'Flaherty CBE (28 February 1898 – 30 October 1963), was an Irish Catholic priest and senior official of the Roman Curia, and a significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism. During World War II, O'Flaherty was responsible for saving 6,500 Allied soldiers and Jews. His ability to evade the traps set by the German Gestapo and Sicherheitsdienst (SD), earned O'Flaherty the nickname "The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican".[1] After the Second World War he was named a papal domestic prelate by Pope Pius XII and served as notary of the Holy Office, working alongside and assisting Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani until 1960.

The Wiki about O'Flaherty's life writes about the time in which the film is set:

World War II
In the early years of World War II, O'Flaherty toured prisoner of war (POW) camps in Italy and tried to find out about prisoners who had been reported missing in action. If he found them alive, he tried to reassure their families through Radio Vatican.[9]

When Mussolini was removed from power by the King in 1943, thousands of Allied POWs were released; however, when Germany imposed an occupation over Italy, they were in danger of recapture. Some of them, remembering visits by O'Flaherty, reached Rome and asked him for help. Others went to the Irish embassy to the Holy See, the only English-speaking embassy to remain open in Rome during the war. Delia Murphy, who was the wife of Thomas J. Kiernan, the Irish ambassador (and, in her day, a well-known ballad singer), was one of those who helped O'Flaherty.[10]

O'Flaherty did not wait for permission from his superiors. He recruited the help of other priests (including two young New Zealanders, Fathers Owen Snedden and John Flanagan), two agents working for the Free French, François de Vial and Yves Debroise, Communists and a Swiss count. One of his aides was British Major Sam Derry, a POW escapee. Derry along with British officers and escaped POWs Lieutenants Furman and Simpson, and Captain Byrnes, a Canadian, were responsible for the security and operational organisation. O'Flaherty also kept contact with Sir D'Arcy Osborne, British Ambassador to the Holy See, and his butler John May (whom O'Flaherty described as "a genius ... the most magnificent scrounger"). O'Flaherty and his allies concealed 4,000 escapees, mainly Allied soldiers and Jews, in flats, farms and convents. Among those sheltered was one Ines Gistron and a Jewish friend whom O'Flaherty placed in a pensione run by Canadian nuns at Monteverde (Rome), where they were given false IDs.[11]

One of the first hideouts was beside the local SS headquarters. O'Flaherty and Derry coordinated all this from his room at the Collegio Teutonico.[12] When outside the Vatican, O'Flaherty wore various disguises. The German occupiers tried to stop him and eventually they found out that the leader of the network was a priest. SS attempts to assassinate him failed. They learned his identity, but could not arrest him inside the Vatican. When the German ambassador revealed this to O'Flaherty, he began to meet his contacts on the stairs of St. Peter's Basilica.[citation needed]

Obersturmbannführer Herbert Kappler, the head of the SS Sicherheitsdienst and Gestapo in Rome, learned of O'Flaherty's actions; he ordered a white line painted on the pavement at the opening of St. Peter's Square (signifying the border between Vatican City and Italy), stating that the priest would be killed if he crossed it. Pietro Koch, head of the Banda Koch, a special task force charged with hunting down partisans and rounding up deportees for the Germans, often spoke of his intention to torture O'Flaherty before executing him if he ever fell into his hands.[13]

Several others, including priests, nuns and lay people, worked in secret with O'Flaherty, and even hid refugees in their own private homes around Rome. Among these were the Augustinian Maltese Fathers Egidio Galea, Aurelio Borg and Ugolino Gatt, the Dutch Augustinian Father Anselmus Musters and Brother Robert Pace of the Brothers of Christian Schools. Another person who contributed significantly to this operation was Chetta Chevalier, who hid some refugees in her house with her children, and escaped detection.[14] Jewish religious services were conducted in the Basilica di San Clemente, which was under Irish diplomatic protection, under a painting of Tobias.[15]

When the Allies arrived in Rome in June 1944, 6,425 of the escapees were still alive. O'Flaherty demanded that German prisoners be treated properly as well. He took a plane to South Africa to meet Italian POWs and to Jerusalem to visit Jewish refugees. Of the 9,700 Jews in Rome, 1,007 had been shipped to Auschwitz. The rest were hidden, over 5,000 of them by the Church − 300 in Castel Gandolfo, 200 or 400 (estimates vary) as "members" of the Palatine Guard and some 1,500 in monasteries, convents and colleges. The remaining 3,700 were hidden in private homes.[16]

At the time of the liberation of Rome, O'Flaherty's and Derry's organisation was caring for 3,925 escapees and men who had succeeded in evading arrest. Of these 1,695 were British, 896 South African, 429 Russian, 425 Greek and 185 American. The remainder were from 20 different nations. This does not include Jews and sundry other men and women who were in O'Flaherty's personal care.

After the war:

O'Flaherty regularly visited his old nemesis Herbert Kappler (the former SS chief in Rome), in prison, month after month, being Kappler's only visitor. In 1959, Kappler converted to Catholicism and was baptised by O'Flaherty.[19][20]

As the description showed, O'Flaherty was not alone. The life of the network helper Chetta Chevalier shows how some of the other people contributed to the efforts:

Chevalier was born Henrietta Scerri to Emmanuel Scerri and his wife Maria née Mamo in Sliema, Malta. She married Thomas Chevalier on 15 May 1920 at the Church of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Sliema. The couple lived in Rome, where Mr. Chevalier worked as an agent for British travel company Thomas Cook & Sons, and had several children. After the death of her husband and the imprisonment of one of her sons in 1939, the British widow found herself stuck in Mussolini's fascist state and responsible for the welfare of her children and elderly mother. Recruited into O'Flaherty's network, Chevalier essentially gave O'Flaherty carte blanche to use her apartment as a storehouse and safehouse for people fleeing fascism. Despite several close scrapes — including one which one of her daughters, Gemma, hid from Chevalier — and being under constant surveillance by Hitler's Sicherheitsdienst, Chevalier and her family continued their clandestine activities under constant risk of death until being evacuated by O'Flaherty's network one by one to a farm on the outskirts of the city where they lived out the rest of the war in hiding themselves.[1][2][3][4]

One can find more views and details in other sources, though sometimes they overlap or repeat. Here is a selection:
Hugh O'Flaherty Memorial Society

Although he was born in Kiskeam, where his mother's family were from, in North Cork, Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty grew up in Killarney, where his father was the steward of the old Killarney Golf Club when it was located in Deerpark. Hugh had a vocation for the priesthood and as a young seminarian he was posted to Rome in 1922, the year Mussolini came to power in Italy. He earned a degree in theology in just one year while studying in Rome, was ordained in 1925 and continued his studies for a further two years, earning doctorates in divinity, canon law and philosophy.

The Vatican
He was a skilled diplomat and served the Vatican in Egypt, Haiti, San Domingo and Czechoslovakia. After a period of 4 years he was recalled to Rome and was appointed to the Holy Office.

Talented Golfer

​

He was also devoted to golf, from his early years playing in Killarney while in Italy he played regularly with Count Ciano, Mussolini’s son-in-law, and with the ex-king Alfonso of Spain. His high standing in the social life of Rome would stand him in good stead during the Nazi occupation of Rome.

From another site this page

Friends.
These, then, were the kind of men that O’Flaherty was up against, if he was determined to stand for humanity. And the numbers of those in danger was rising daily. O’Flaherty decided to ask for help. The first person he approached, although a logical choice, was not someone O’Flaherty would normally befriend: Sir Francis Godolphin D’Arcy Osborne was an English gentleman, cousin to the Duke of Leeds, and British Minister to the Holy See. Since most of the escaped POWs were British, O’Flaherty assumed that Sir D’Arcy would want to do something. The Minister thought the whole situation was “acutely embarrassing for His Majesty’s Government,” but unfortunately he could not risk compromising the Vatican’s neutrality. One can imagine O’Flaherty’s Irish blood was close to boiling after this speech. But D’Arcy wasn’t finished; he suggested the priest have a “quiet chat” with the Minister’s butler, a small, inscrutable Cockney named John May. “I don’t want to know any details,” J.P. Gallagher has the Minister say, “but I have a good idea he can help you!”

John May, O’Flaherty would later say, was a special kind of genius: “the most magnificent scrounger I have ever come across.” May had an incredible talent for obtaining things that weren’t supposed to be obtainable. Did the escapees need shoes or clothing, no questions asked? Not a problem. Did they need more food than wartime rationing allowed? John May could get it. Like O’Flaherty, May had friends everywhere, particularly in the black market. Numerous useful people owed him favors. As shrewd and careful as O’Flaherty was large-hearted and innocent, John May proved to be the perfect counterpart to the Monsignor.

Also involved was Count Sarsfield Salazar of the Swiss Legation, very helpful in procuring neutral Swiss identity papers and oiling diplomatic wheels. Thomas Kiernan, the Irish ambassador to the Vatican, had to adhere strictly to his country’s policy of neutrality, but his wife, the noted singer Delia Murphy, had a freer hand and helped where she could—seeing that O’Flaherty had the use of the Irish Legation’s car when he needed it, for example. Molly Stanley, a middle-aged English governess, was another good friend of O’Flaherty’s who turned out to be a tireless worker on his behalf. She had lived in Rome since her early twenties, and her insider’s knowledge of the city was invaluable. Behind the scenes, Sir D’Arcy quietly supplied money. With these people aiding O’Flaherty, the rescue effort started to take on the appearance of an organization.

From this page:

The Rome Escape Organisation as it has become known as, featured a cast of characters who worked together with The Monsignor to save the lives of Prisoners of War and Civilians.

All of these 'volunteers' ran the peronal risk of definite imprisonment and possible execution in their selfless acts for others in need.

Sam Derry commented :
"the strangeness of this organisation, in which soldiers and priests, diplomats and communists, noblemen and humble working-folk, were all operating in concord with a single aim, yet without any clearly defined pyramid of authority"

From this page

To O’Flaherty, the liberation meant only an end to some of the hardships. Victory, triumph, conquest—these things mattered little to him, even if it was he and his friends who could claim them. Sometime in his life, somewhere in his heart, O’Flaherty had made a promise to come to the aid of anyone in need, no matter their nationality, no matter their religion, no matter whose side they were on. Now that the tide of war had turned, it was no longer the Allies and the Jews who needed help; it was the Italian Fascists and the Germans.

And this page:

The end of the war was in sight now; but if the rest of the world was inclined to sit back and relax a little, O'Flaherty was not. He was soon visiting POW camps again, only this time the prisoners were Italian and German. Just as he had before, he kept an eye on welfare and conditions, gathered names, and helped Italian citizens get news of their missing or imprisoned relatives.

Sam Derry arranged for O?Flaherty to see the US General, Mark Clark, and recalls that the Monsignor spent most of the meeting quizzing the General about the Americans? treatment of their German captives. O?Flaherty flew to South Africa to visit prison camps there. He visited Jerusalem to help many of the Jews he had rescued with their immigration to Israel. The two double agents who had been involved with the organization were put on trial as Fascist collaborators. O?Flaherty testified on their behalf. ?They did wrong,? he told Derry, ?but there is good in every man.?

1946 saw O?Flaherty promoted to a higher position in the Holy Office. But the tales told about his work and the regard with which the people held him (some called him a saint) ultimately hurt his career more than helped it. Those Vatican officials who had always been annoyed by his unorthodox style were doubly offended now. Even though he never sought recognition, and would get almost angry if called a hero, O?Flaherty had to fight backbiting and politics for the rest of his career. This tired and disappointed him, but he didn?t let it discourage him too badly. He was busy with other things anyway. After all, the golf courses were open again.

While golfing near Ciampino one day in ?46, the monsignor stumbled on a half-starved group of Central European refugees squatting in a ruined village. Naturally O?Flaherty couldn?t just pass by. He provided food and clothing, helped the men find work, fixed up the buildings, taught the refugees about the Church, baptized them, and virtually adopted the whole village. For the next 12 years, he would visit every Sunday and say Mass.

Even his closest family learned about his heroism only indirectly. His sister, Bride, recalled meeting a Jewish family on one of her visits Rome. When they learned that the Monsignor was her brother, they brought her into their jewelry shop and insisted that she pick out anything she wanted, so great was their gratitude to O?Flaherty. But from her brother himself, Bride could rarely get a word.

Comments
O'Flaherty and his network reminded me of the saying "Being wise as serpents and gentle as doves", as the Cs put it.

The image of Mary surrounded by stars
In one scene, O'Flaherty stands silently in front of an image of Mother Mary:

A similar scene repeats two more times, of which the last marks the ending of the film. One can interpret the scenes to represent faith and religious practice, but there are other possibilities.

For instance, the image may also allude to the Woman of the Apocalypse described in Revelation 12:1, in the story of "The Woman and the Dragon"

12 A great portent appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

From this perspective, the SS forces opposing the work of O'Flaherty may then represent the dragon.

What the image with the 12 stars reminded me of was the Flag of Europe. The Wiki explains:

The Flag of Europe or European Flag[note 1] consists of twelve golden stars forming a circle on a blue field. It was designed and adopted in 1955 by the Council of Europe (CoE) as a symbol for the whole of Europe.[4]
[...]
Designed by: Collaborative effort involving various people, including Arsène Heitz and Paul M. G. Lévy

The Council of Europe gave the flag a symbolic description in the following terms,[8] though the official symbolic description adopted by the EU omits the reference to the "Western world":[9][10]

Against the blue sky of the Western world, the stars symbolise the peoples of Europe in a form of a circle, a sign of union. Their number is invariably twelve, the figure twelve being the symbol of perfection and entirety.
— Council of Europe. Paris, 7–9 December 1955.

Since 1985, the flag has also been a symbol of the European Union (EU), whose 27 member states are all also CoE members, although in that year the EU had not yet assumed its present name or constitutional form (which came in steps in 1993 and 2009). Adoption by the EU, or EC as it then was, reflected long-standing CoE desire to see the flag used by other European organisations.[5] Official EU use widened greatly in the 1990s. Nevertheless the flag has to date received no status in any of the EU's treaties. Its adoption as an official symbol was planned as part of the 2004 European Constitution but this failed to be ratified. Mention of the flag was removed in 2007 from the text of the Treaty of Lisbon, which was ratified. On the other hand, 16 EU members that year, plus France in 2017, have officially affirmed (by Declaration No. 5224) their attachment to the flag as an EU symbol.

Looking up the names of those who worked on the design, one finds under Arsène Heitz

Heitz worked in the postal service of the Council of Europe while the flag was being chosen between 1950 and 1955, and he submitted 21 of the 101 designs that are conserved in the Council of Europe Archives.[1][2]

Arsène Heitz, who mainly designed the European flag in 1955, had told Lourdes magazine that his inspiration had been the reference in the Book of Revelation, the New Testament's final section, to "a woman clothed with the sun...and a crown of twelve stars on her head" (Revelation 12:1).[7]

He was a devout Catholic who belonged to the Order of the Miraculous Medal, which may have influenced his views on the symbolism of the 12 stars.[8][9][10]

There is however some discussion, if not even arguments, over the symbolism, and who designed what.

The Miraculous Medal based on the design idea of a French visionary, Catherine Labouré, in 1830 shows Mary on one side, and a cross and the initial, M, with 12 stars on the other. Perhaps that also inspired the creator of the statue in Strasbourg Cathedral, erected n 1859:

The irony of history?
In the film, Kappler tells O'Flaherty when the NAZI forces are about to be driven out of Rome by US led forces:

There will be a new order in Europe.
We are evacuating Rome now,
but that means nothing.
We will be back.
The Third Reich... is the future. - Source: The Scarlet and the Black (1983) Movie script.

The Third Reich did not come back, but a new order in Europe did, that now flies under a flag with 12 stars, with religion replaced by "European values", upgraded with tyranny in the name of health, green deindustrialization, LBGT+, CRT, WEF plans, Russophobia, digital surveillance and to a significant degree guided by NATO/US policies.

Now, if a Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty was alive today, what kind of work would he and his friends do under such circumstances, what kind of network would be created?

I don't have an answer, but I think the work they did would not have been possible without hospitality and a decent display of the four classical virtues: prudence, fortitude, temperance justice as well as a number of others too,, though different roles and different circumstances requires different qualities.

As I was writing the above, I came to think of this excerpt, that speaks of "Pockets in many places."
Session 30 October 2021

(Learner) In which places of Europe and the rest of the Western world is it most likely that people will wake up, network and help each other while facing ever tightening screws of Covid and other tyranny, black-outs, earth changes, etc.?

A: Pockets in many places.

Q: (L) There will be pockets in many places.

 

[annp]

I watched this movie last night and highly recommend it! Gregory Peck was a superb actor as was Christopher Plummer and the dynamics between them in the movie were well done. The movie is so inspiring - there are countless people who risked so much to help others, many of those we will never learn of. One of the many things that struck me was the reaction of Plummer (Col Kappler) when he was told where his wife and children had been taken - the dawning revelation that there is indeed selflessness alive in the world. I suppose that was the director's way of hinting at his future conversion.

Recenlty, I watched another older movie with Leslie Howard, Pimpernel Smith, it's about a very unassuming archeologist who rescued people: "Eccentric Cambridge archaeologist Horatio Smith takes a group of British and American archaeology students to pre-war Nazi Germany to help in his excavations. His research is supported by the Nazis, since he professes to be looking for evidence of the Aryan origins of German civilisation. However, he has a secret agenda: to free inmates of the concentration camps."

One of my favorite lines was Howards' response to a Nazi Colonel who thought he had him cornered:

General von Graum : Mm. We can afford to make a loss, our profits will be tremendous. Tonight we march against Poland, and tomorrow we'll see the dawn of a new order. We shall make a German empire of the world. Why do I talk to you? You are a dead man.

Professor Horatio Smith : May a dead man say a few words to you, General, for your enlightenment? You will never rule the world... because you are doomed. All of you who have demoralized and corrupted a nation are doomed. Tonight you will take the first step along a dark road from which there is no turning back. You will have to go on and on, from one madness to another, leaving behind you a wilderness of misery and hatred. And still, you will have to go on... because you will find no horizon... and see no dawn... until at last you are lost and destroyed. You are doomed, Captain of Murderers, and one day, sooner or later, you will remember my words.