(OSV News) - An apple tree grown from a tree in Blessed Józef Ulma's orchard was planted March 6 in the Vatican Gardens by Polish officials, accompanied by Cardinal Pietro Parolin. The ceremony was part of commemorating the 80th anniversary of the death of Józef and Wiktoria Ulma with their seven children.
The Ulma family gave "an example of evangelical love, lived to the end, until the gift of life," Cardinal Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state, said during the ceremony. "This is a model for all of us, including in the times in which we live," he added.
Earlier on March 6, Pope Francis stressed during the general audience as he greeted the Polish pilgrims from the Podkarpacie region, where the Ulma family lived, that "on this occasion, a ceremony will be held in the Vatican Gardens to plant an apple tree, grafted by Blessed Józef Ulma. I bless everyone from the heart."
Józef and Wiktoria Ulma secretly gave shelter to eight Jews for almost two years in German-occupied Poland, hiding them from the Nazi regime during the Second World War. The Ulmas had seven children, including the unborn child in Wiktoria’s womb.
The Nazis, informed by a local policeman that Jews were being hidden in the household, came early in the morning March 24, 1944, right before Easter.
First, they killed all eight Jewish fugitives. Then they shot Wiktoria and Józef and decided to shoot the children too. The whole family, including a child born during the execution, were beatified Sept. 10, 2023, in Markowa, Poland, where the Ulma family lived and died.
"The story of this martyrdom is heartbreaking, but above all it is a story of love conquering fear, of good being stronger than evil, of the Ulma family and thousands of similar and silent heroes," Grazyna Ignaczak-Bandych, chief of Cabinet to the president of Poland, said after planting the apple tree on a day when Europe commemorated the Righteous Among Nations.
In 1995, Israel gave the Ulmas the title of Righteous Among Nations, an honorific used by Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews. The family's sainthood cause was begun in 2003. In the case of martyrs, the typical requirement of a verified miracle prior to beatification is waived, though one is required for canonization.
Despite the risk of the death penalty, an estimated 300,000 Polish people hid and helped Jews in their homes. Over 6,600 Poles hold the title of Righteous Among Nations. Around 1,000 Poles, including women and children, were executed for hiding and helping Jews.
Mateusz Szpytma, Polish historian and relative of the Ulma family, was "truly moved" to witness the Vatican Garden ceremony, he told OSV News. For him, "this family is an undeniable symbol of love and courage for the Poles, the Jews and the universal church, now also symbolically commemorated for all those associated with the Western culture in this very special place inside the Vatican walls."
"We Poles want to honor them, save them from oblivion and bring their characters closer to people on all continents. We want this heroic love of neighbor to be a light of hope for all those who fear the evil rampant in the world," Ignaczak-Bandych said at the Vatican Gardens, reading the letter signed by Polish President Andrzej Duda for the occasion.
A similar apple tree is already growing at the Presidential Palace garden in Warsaw as part of the "By the fruit you'll recognize them" initiative.
"We are in the center of the Christian world," Wladyslaw Ortyl, marshal of the Podkarpacie region, said during the Vatican Garden ceremony, adding that "it is here that the apple tree from the Podkarpacie region will remind us of the exceptional attitude of the humble family from Markowa.”
"We want a lasting trace of this steadfast attitude, of a heroic family, to remain here at the Vatican as well," he said.
"It is somewhat amazing," Szpytma, who also is vice president of the Polish Institute of National Remembrance, told OSV News. "They are just a local farmer's family, and to see them now celebrated by people on all continents is really moving to me," he said.
Szpytma said that the interest in Ulma family relics in many places around the world where he travels with talks and to open exhibitions on the Ulma family is "incredible," with the Polish bishops conference deciding it's not enough for the relics to travel around only in Poland, but to make it possible for them to also travel to parishes abroad.
Caption: A group poses for a picture in the Vatican Gardens March 6, 2024, behind an apple tree planted to commemorate the Ulma family 80 years after their death on March 24, 1944, in Markowa, Poland, at the hands of German occupiers who killed the entire family for giving shelter to Jews in their house. Near the center is Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican's secretary of state, with Wladyslaw Ortyl, marshall of Poland's Podkarpacie region, at left, and Grazyna Ignaczak -Bandych, chief of Cabinet to the president of Poland, at right. Also in attendance were several diplomats as well as people connected to the Ulma family's beatification process. (OSV News photo/courtesy Office of the Marshal of Podkarpacie)