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 Saint Maximillian Kolbe 75th Anniversary of Death Scott 1630 (2016) July 7 marks the feast day for the Ulma Family. This Polish family of nine was beatified in 2023 in honor of their actions during World War II. Recognized as martyrs of the Church, their beatification is the first instance of an entire family being raised to the status of ‘Blessed’ at one time. No stamps from Vatican City have been issued to honor the Ulma Family, but the stamp above pictures another Polish martyr from World War II, Saint Maximillian Kolbe. Józef and Wiktoria Ulma lived on the outskirts of the village of Markowa. They were peasant farmers, and had six children: Stanisława, Barbara, Władysław, Franciszek, Antoni, and Maria. In early 1944, Wiktoria was also pregnant with a seventh child. In mid-1942, German forces in Nazi-occupied Poland initiated Operation Reinhardt, a program aimed at exterminating all Jews in the region. During this time, the Ulma family took in two families, totaling eight Jews, and hid them on their farm. From 1942 to early 1944, the Nazis either deported to extermination camps or summarily murdered around 175 Jews in the area around Markowa. On March 24, 1944, a Nazi patrol surrounded the home of the Ulmas, found the Jewish families being sheltered on the farm, and executed them. They then killed Józef, the six children, and Wiktoria, who was in premature labor and gave birth to the seventh Ulma child, an unnamed son, who died at birth. Since there was no chance to baptize the newborn, he experienced what the Church calls a baptism of blood.  Plaque honoring the Ulma Family, Markowa, Poland Photo by Kancelaria Sejmu / Łukasz Błasikiewicz From Wikipedia Commons, used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license In 2003, the beatification process was initiated for 122 Polish martyrs who died during World War II, including Józef and Wiktoria Ulma and their seven children. On December 18, 2022, Pope Francis declared the entire Ulma family to be martyrs and announced their beatification. On September 10, 2023, the Mass of Beatification for the Ulma Family was celebrated in their hometown of Markowa and was attended by an estimated gathering of 30,000 people. In his homily at the Mass, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, said: "It would be misleading if the day of the beatification of the Ulma family served only to bring back to memory the terror of the atrocities perpetrated by their executioners, on whom, by the way, the judgment of history already weighs heavily…Instead, we want today to be a day of joy, because the page of the Gospel written on paper has become for us a lived reality, which shines brightly in the Christian witness of the Ulma couple and in the martyrdom of the new Blesseds."Cardinal Semeraro also remembered the eight Jewish friends of the Ulma family who were killed that day. It was fitting that Poland’s chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, attended the beatification Mass. The plaque shown above, dedicated on March 24, 2004, on the 40th anniversary of the murders of the members the Ulma Family, reads: "Saving lives of others, they sacrificed their own. Józef Ulma, his wife Wiktoria and their children: Stasia, Basia, Władziu, Franuś, Antoś, Marysia, Nienarodzone, hiding eight older brothers in faith, Jews from Szallów and Goldman families, died with them in Markowa on March 24, 1944 with hands of the German gendarmerie. Let their sacrifice be a call to respect and show love to every man! They were sons and daughters of this land. They will remain in our heart."The Feast Day for the Ulma Family, July 7, is celebrated on the wedding anniversary of Józef and Wiktoria, who were married in 1935. REFERENCES: |
