Tomorrow, we will witness the beatification of the nine-member family of Józef and Wiktoria Ulma, murdered for helping eight Jews, which will take place in Markowa in Podkarpacie. Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, together with 1,000 priests and eighty cardinals and bishops from Poland and abroad, will concelebrate a Holly Mass. More than 32,000 people signed up to participate in the ceremony. The Chief Rabbi of Poland will also be present there.
The President and Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland are expected in Markowa. The invitation was also sent to the presidents and prime ministers of European countries and to the episcopates of the countries neighboring Poland.
Józef and Wiktoria Ulma and their children, Stanisława, Barbara, Władysław, Franciszek, Antoni, Maria, and the Unborn child will be proclaimed blessed.
"May the sacrifice made by the family of Józef and Wiktoria Ulma and their children, who did not hesitate to give their lives to help eight people of Jewish origin, be for us and future generations a symbol of faithfulness to values that must never be betrayed even under threat of death."
Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, Substitute of the Vatican Secretariat of State, wrote those words in a letter on behalf of Pope Francis.
The letter was sent to Fr. Miroslaw Kalinowski, the Rector of the Catholic University of Lublin, which published the book "Martyred and Blessed Together: The Extraordinary Story of the Ulma Family."
The Holy Mass will be celebrated in Latin, while the liturgy of the word and some parts of the mass, where the people will pray together, will be in Polish, - said Fr. Łukasz Jastrzębski, Master of Ceremonies of the Archdiocese of Przemyśl responsible for the liturgy during the beatification ceremony.
The beatification of the Ulma family is an unprecedented event because, with one act of beatification, the whole family will be raised to the glory of the altars – parents Józef and Wiktoria Ulma, together with their seven children. An additional unprecedented fact is that this act will also beatify the unborn(*) child who was in the mother’s womb at the time of death.
The beatification ceremony will take place on September 10 at 10:00 in Markowa, Poland.
To find out more about the Ulma family, please visit ulmafamily.com
* CNN incorrectly reported that it was a newborn baby.
