In the context of the Ulma family beatification, which will take place on September 10, 2023, in Markowa, Poland, the Vatican confirmed today that Wiktoria Ulma, pregnant with her seventh child, gave birth during her martyrdom, adding the baby to the list of martyrs of the Church.
“In reference to the news recently disseminated in some media about the martyrdom of the Ulma family,” the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints clarified in a statement as follows: “At the time of the murder, Mrs. Wiktoria Ulma was in an advanced state of pregnancy with her seventh child. This child was born at the moment of his mother’s martyrdom.”
Blood Baptism
Therefore, the Vatican insisted, “this child has been added to the number of children who were also martyrs. In fact, in the martyrdom of his parents, he received the baptism of blood,” reads a note published on Tuesday, September 5, and signed by Cardinal Marcello Semeraro and Archbishop Fabio Fabene, respectively, the prefect and secretary of the dicastery.
It is worth noting that the term “baptism of blood” is used to refer to those who, due to their martyrdom or sacrifice in the name of their faith, receive a “spiritual baptism” that purifies their soul, even if they have not been formally baptized with water.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church points out in paragraph 1258 that “the Church has always held the firm conviction that those who suffer death for the sake of the faith without having received Baptism are baptized by their death for and with Christ.This Baptism of blood, like the desire for Baptism, brings about the fruits of Baptism without being a sacrament.”
In paragraph 1261, the Catechism explains that “as regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus’ tenderness toward children which caused him to say: “Let the children come to me, do not hinder them,” allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism. All the more urgent is the Church’s call not to prevent little children coming to Christ through the gift of holy Baptism”.
A Heroic Family
On August 31, Pope Francis described these Polish spouses and their 7 children as “a heroic family.” In December 2022, the Holy Father recognized the martyrdom of the Polish couple and their children, “killed out of hatred for the faith on March 24, 1944, in Markowa (Poland),” during World War II. On March 24, 1944, a Nazi patrol surrounded the house of Józef and Wiktoria Ulma, on the outskirts of their village. They discovered eight Jews who had taken refuge on the property and executed them. The Nazi police then killed Wiktoria, who was seven months pregnant, and Józef. When the children began to scream upon seeing their parents murdered, the Nazis also shot them.
The children were between one and eight years old. One of them was the child born to Wiktoria Ulma at the moment of martyrdom. These future blesseds are known as “the Samaritans of Markowa.” They were engaged in agriculture and lived in the small Polish town of Markowa in the county of Lancut, Rzeszow district.
“May the example of this heroic family, who sacrificed their lives in order to save persecuted Jews, help you to understand that one grows up to holiness and heroic deeds through faithfulness in small, everyday things,” the Pontiff told Polish faithful at the General Audience last Wednesday.
