Also among the nine family members killed was Józef and Wiktoria’s seventh child, who was not given a name before the Nazi killings. The Vatican has confirmed that Wiktoria went into premature labor when she was killed and that the baby was born at the time of her death.
“I think it’s a powerful lesson in the personhood of the unborn, or those who are in the process of being born, however, they want to phrase it,” Niemczak commented on this aspect of the beatification.
“We know that this was a child made in the image and likeness of God that participated in some mysterious way in this family’s self-offering. There’s just something so beautiful about Józef and Wiktoria deciding to teach their children the dignity of every human life, not just in words, but in action.”
Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, told Vatican News that although the child was never baptized, the exceptional case constituted what the Catechism describes as a “baptism of blood,” echoing the narrative of the Holy Innocents in the Gospels.
Father Witold Burda, the postulator for the Ulma family, has said that a Bible was found inside the Ulma house in which the parable of the Good Samaritan had been underlined in a red pen. Niemczak said families striving for holiness today can take example from the clearly “whole family effort” the Ulmas made to keep the Jewish family safe — something many other families in Poland did as well.
“I think it’s something that the Polish people are taking pride in right now and realizing that there were plenty more families like the Ulma family. They just kind of are putting a face to a heroic decision that plenty more unnamed people had done,” he said.
Niemczak said he is excited to serve as a priest during the beatification and plans to hear confessions of the pilgrims during the visit. He said when he returns, he hopes to encourage the seminarians he helps to teach back home to become “those priests in the background that let people become the saints that God wanted them to be.” After all, he said, some unnamed priest was clearly in the background of the Ulmas’ story, taking care of the spiritual needs of Józef and Wiktoria and the family.
Niemczak’s planned trip includes stops at holy sites in Krakow, Our Lady of Częstochowa Shrine, the Divine Mercy Shrine, and several days spent staying with family in addition to the beatification Mass. Niemczak encouraged anyone wishing to submit a prayer request he can bring with him to Poland to do so via a Google form he set up.
“I’ve tried to make it a habit to have parishioners or friends or family members send prayer requests with me if I go on pilgrimage. And I want to be able to open this up to as many people who need prayers, and especially families in need of prayer as I can,” he said.
The Archdiocese of Przemyśl, which opened the Ulmas’ sainthood cause, has published a novena — nine consecutive days of prayer — beginning Sept. 1 and concluding on the vigil of the beatification Sept. 10. The archdiocese has encouraged those participating in the novena to accompany the prayer with daily Mass and adoration.
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Jonah McKeown is a staff writer and podcast producer for Catholic News Agency. He holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Missouri School of Journalism and has worked as a writer, as a producer for public radio, and as a videographer. He is based in St. Louis.