MORE THAN 60 years after he received a CBE for his exploits in the underground movement which saved thousands of Jews, civilians and allied soldiers from the Nazis, Killarney's "Scarlet Pimpernel", Msgr Hugh O'Flaherty was honoured in his native town this weekend.
Ceann Comhairle John O'Donoghue, who gave the keynote address, said the O'Flaherty family were a special family, and the monsignor, whom he knew as a child, was the greatest person he had ever met.
The weekend events, which included exhibitions, a posthumous award, a memorial Mass and a road-naming, were attended by the monsignor's nephew and namesake, former Supreme Court judge Hugh O'Flaherty and his family.
He described his uncle - who received a CBE in May 1945, and numerous other international accolades after that - as a "modest" man "with a dry sense of humour".
The monsignor's niece and Mr O'Flaherty's sister, Pearl Dineen, and her family also played an active part in the commemorative events.
A memorial Mass led by the Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, at St Mary's Cathedral yesterday heard from Bishop of Kerry Bill Murphy that it was only now that the late monsignor's significance was being fully appreciated at home.
Dr Leanza said O'Flaherty devoted enormous energy to the escape route he had set up and his great qualities were of "leadership, ingenuity, passion and courage, physical and moral".
He brought greetings from Pope Benedict XVI on this his first visit to Killarney's St Mary's Cathedral, the seat of the Diocese of Kerry.
Gifts brought to the altar yesterday included Msgr O'Flaherty's prayer book, his posthumous award and his international medals and awards, including a CBE for services to the forces in Italy, the US Medal of Freedom with silver palm, and medals from Canada and Italy.
Mr O'Donoghue, who lived across the road from the late monsignor in Cahersiveen, said that he had the honour of meeting many famous men and women from around the world.
"But the man who made the greatest impression on me is the man whose life stands as a monument to humanity's capacity for courage, charity, generosity and magnanimity; the man who believed that God has no country; the humble priest from Killarney who lived the gospel he preached."
The monsignor, who was born in 1898, grew up and went to school in Killarney, where his father was steward of the old golf club; he retired to Cahersiveen for the last three years of his life, dying there in October 1963.
As well as working in Rome, he served in several countries in the Vatican's diplomatic service.