The Vatican Pimpernel (10 page)

The two then got on a tram and Derry obeyed Zambardi's instructions to pretend to doze through the trip so as not to find himself drawn into conversation. Included among the passengers on the tram were some German and Fascist officers so Derry, as he said himself, tried to make himself small, no easy feat at six foot three. They alighted from the tram just beside the Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II, one of the bridges across the Tiber, and Derry enjoyed his first clear view of St Peter's. He followed Zambardi, keeping his gaze firmly on the ground to avoid catching the eye of any of the German soldiers who were in the general area, as they approached St Peter's Square. Soon he could see a very tall, lone figure in the Square wearing a long, black robe standing just outside the left-hand side of St Peter's Basilica. Derry had a feeling that this priest was watching them, although he seemed to be in prayer. Zambardi led the Major straight up to the priest who immediately turned away with the instruction ‘Follow me – a short distance behind' and all three proceeded without breaking step. However, Derry became alarmed when the priest, rather than lead them towards the Vatican where he thought he would be safe, walked away and into a narrow side street. After walking a couple of hundred yards they turned into a wide, arched entrance and crossed to a massive doorway on the far side. The inscription over the door was ‘Collegio Teutonicum'. Although his language skills were limited Derry knew he was heading into a German college. This, together with the turn away from the Vatican where he thought he was heading, caused him some alarm. However he had little choice but to follow on. On entering the building Derry returned the overcoat to Zambardi, who left them, and the priest led him up two steep flights of stairs along a corridor and into a small, sparsely furnished room which was divided by two long curtains. Derry was somewhat reassured to hear that this priest was the person who had sent on the money in response to his first request. In addition the offer of a nice warm bath – his first in a year and a half – was very welcome. When he returned to the room after taking his bath, it was unoccupied. Soon, a stocky, dark-haired, middle-aged man wearing a neat, black coat and pinstriped trousers entered and, in an accent containing a trace of cockney, addressed him: ‘Major Derry, I believe'. The Major still did not know who he was talking to when the priest arrived back in and he introduced the middle-aged man as John May and left again almost immediately.

May brought the Major up to date on the situation in relation to the British diplomatic service in Rome and the Vatican, and then left. The Monsignor returned and lunch was served by two nuns who were obviously German. After they had left, Derry felt compelled to ask ‘Monsignor, are we in the Vatican?' It was explained to him that they were not quite in the Vatican but were on papal property and, as such, the German College was part of the Vatican State as distinct from the Italian one. He was also reassured as to his safety for the time being, notwithstanding the fact that it was a German college. The Monsignor then left to return to his office to do some work but returned half an hour later with a young lady whom Derry described as ‘a staggeringly attractive brunette' about nineteen years old who turned out to be Blon (Blánaid) Kiernan, the daughter of the Irish Minister. There followed some conversation between the trio and it became clear that the Monsignor and Miss Kiernan were good friends (and indeed the Monsignor was a regular guest at the Irish Legation). John May returned shortly after that with an invitation to the Major and the Monsignor to join the British Minister for dinner at the Legation that night. As it happened, the Monsignor and the Major were more or less the same build so early that evening the two men, both dressed as Monsignors, left the German College and proceeded by a slightly roundabout route into a four-storey building within the Vatican walls itself. ‘Not at all bad, me boy', said the Monsignor approvingly, ‘you look more like a Monsignor than I do.'
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On the top floor of this building the Major and the Monsignor were met by John May and brought in to join the British Minister. The Minister explained that the note from Derry expressing thanks for the original 3,000 lire and his request for more had prompted Monsignor O'Flaherty, on seeing it, to think that maybe a meeting would be a good idea. In essence, over the course of that conversation it was agreed that the Council of Three would now become a Council of Four with the English Major in charge of organisational details. Derry stayed overnight in the Minister's accommodation and spent most of the next day there catching up with war news in order to be able to pass on as much information as he possibly could to those he had left in the mountains, as he had decided to return to them with further assistance and set up an organisational structure there. That evening he donned the clerical robes again and made the return journey with O'Flaherty to the German College. Looking out the window of the Monsignor's bedroom, Derry realised that they were quite close to where the British Minister was located.

Having stayed overnight in the Monsignor's room, Derry returned to his colleagues in the mountains in the company of Pietro Fabri, the smallholder, and passed on to them the 50,000 lire which D'Arcy Osborne had given him. D'Arcy Osborne also helped Derry set up an organisational structure. Leaving Rome was not too difficult even though there were no supplies to hide under. Guards were more careful of those coming in and did not really take any interest in those leaving. Although there were regulations as to what could be brought in and out of Rome and who could come into the city, a group leaving with an empty cart was of no interest. A few days later, again under the vegetables, he returned to Rome and the German College where he donned the Monsignor's clothes and went across to visit the British Minister. In the meantime, D'Arcy Osborne had checked out some of the background information in relation to Derry by means of a coded message which, by some unexplained means, found its way to the Foreign Office in London, then to the War Office and finally to the local police force in Newark, Nottinghamshire, where Derry was from. In this way the Minister was able to satisfy himself as to the Major's credentials and he was in a position to allow him to start work. Derry realised that his background had been checked out thoroughly. He assured D'Arcy Osborne that he was genuine and anxious to help.

Derry's role was to build an organisational structure on the work that the Council of Three had already undertaken, including finding places for men to live and ensuring that they regularly received food and all the necessities of life. The Minister also promised to arrange for some other officers, already availing of sanctuary in the Vatican, to provide some administrative back-up to Derry. And so, what came to be known in Government records in London as the British Escape Organisation, came into existence in late November 1943.

The administrative work involved was huge. At this stage, there were more than a thousand escapees in contact with the organisation and an early decision was made to keep as many as possible out of Rome because the risks were greatest in the city. It was also more difficult and more expensive to keep people supplied with food within the city. At the same time, future escapees, not being aware of the dangers, were most likely to drift towards Rome so a system was set up whereby they could avail of temporary accommodation before being sent out into the countryside again. Derry quickly realised that he had little chance of achieving his objectives without the assistance of the Irish Monsignor and an interesting exchange of views took place when they met later that day. Derry remarked to O'Flaherty ‘It is a good thing you are pro-British, Monsignor.'This provoked a strong response when the Irishman quickly outlined his experiences, and those of his countrymen, as he was growing up. Confused, Derry then asked why the Monsignor was now being so helpful to British escapees. It emerged that O'Flaherty listened to propaganda on both sides in the early years of the War and was unsure what to believe. The experience that changed his views was the treatment of the Jews in Rome. In June 1942, the Roman newspaper
Il Messaggero
had published a photograph on its front page showing 50 or so Jews working as forced labour along the banks of the Tiber. This had been the final breaking point for O'Flaherty.

After this clearing of the air, the two men got on well and Derry moved to live in the Monsignor's quarters at the German College. A real Vatican identity card bearing a genuine photograph of Derry was produced for him, describing him as Patrick Derry, an Irish writer employed in the Vatican. For this short period of his life, his papers described him as Roman Catholic whereas in fact he was Anglican. These documents were enough to enable Derry to get through any routine checkpoint on the streets of Rome. However, there was always the risk that the validity of the documents would be checked by contacting the neutral Irish Legation which had a list of Irish citizens living in Rome. The authorities there would have been obliged to make it clear that there was no such Irishman in Rome as Patrick Derry. Fortunately for the Major, nobody took this step. The advent of Major Derry as an active participant in the escape organisation has an added advantage for those of us looking back at the period. In contrast to the Monsignor, he kept detailed records and he recounted his experiences in a book published in 1960 under the title
The Rome Escape Line
. This is the period of the War about which we know most in relation to Monsignor O'Flaherty.

Derry then began to introduce himself to the local organisation. He decided to visit the various locations where escapees were being catered for. This enabled him to get to know these locations but also it made him aware of the extent of O'Flaherty's network. His first visit was to the flat on the Via Firenze and he was guided there by the New Zealander, Fr Owen Sneddon. The next day he was returned to the German College and met a Fr John Claffey who was a native of County Westmeath. Fr John brought him to an apartment he shared with another Irish priest, from County Galway, Fr Vincent Treacy. Both were members of the Congregation of the Priests of St Mary and lived at the Via de Penitenzieri quite close to the Monsignor's office. Their accommodation was very often used as a clearing house for new escapees on their arrival. Fr Claffey took Derry on to meet Br Robert Pace, a Maltese De la Salle Brother. Br Robert had a mini-organisation of his own going within the greater group at that stage, consisting of two young Italians, Sandro Cottich, a law student, and Mimo Trapani, a medical student. Br Robert introduced the Major to his gallant countrywoman, Mrs Chevalier. At that stage Mrs Chevalier had four British soldiers staying with her. Her attitude to the crucial role she played is well reflected in her comment to the Major: ‘They are absolutely grand, these boys. They are just like my own children. It is all so marvellous.'
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Like the Monsignor before him Derry emphasised to her the dangers involved in this work. He immediately decided on a cautious strategy, whereby those lodging with her were warned that, in the event of any danger, her safety and that of her family had to come first. Others who were active in the organisation whom he met at that time were Fr Tom Tuomey from Tralee and Fr Ben Forsythe from Fermoy; the Maltese Augustinian priests Fr Egidio Galea, Fr Aurelius Borg and Fr Ugolino Gatt; Fr Anselmo Musters from Holland; Fr John (‘Spike') Buckley from Mayo; the Italian film director Renzo Lucidi and his wife Adrienne; Fr Madden and Fr Lenan. Among the local supporters he met at that time were Giuseppe Gonzi, Sandro Cottich, Mimo Trapani and Fernando Giustini. He was also introduced to the third member of the Council of Three, Count Sarsfield Salazar. Salazar advised that the Swiss Embassy was still being inundated with requests for help from escapees who were situated in the surrounding countryside. It was agreed that he would continue to be the channel to provide funds and other resources to them. Within a couple of days however, the Monsignor got a tip-off that the authorities were aware of Salazar's activities as he had been betrayed. The Count had to go into hiding which was just as well because a raid was carried out on the Embassy some days later. However, he continued his work for the organisation from his new location in hiding.