An ordinary Polish farming family who risked everything to protect their Jewish neighbours during World War II is now remembered at St Luke’s Parish in Revesby, with a relic of the Ulma family installed on 9 August.
Parish priest Fr Dariusz Basiaga SDS said the process of acquiring the first-class relic began with a desire to honour modern witnesses of heroic Christian love.
“After their beatification we reached out to the Diocese of Przemyśl in Poland, where the Ulmas lived and died, to request a relic,” he said.
“With the support of church authorities and after fulfilling the necessary protocols, we were blessed to receive the first-class relic (bonds) of this extraordinary family.”
Józef and Wiktoria Ulma lived with their children Stanisława, Barbara, Władysław, Franciszek, Antoni and Maria on a small farm in south-eastern Poland.
During the Nazi occupation, the family secretly sheltered Jewish neighbours despite the danger of being discovered. Wiktoria was also pregnant with the couple’s seventh child when the family was killed in 1944.
The Ulmas were beatified as a family in Markowa, Poland, on 10 September 2023, in an unprecedented recognition that included their unborn child.
Pope Francis described them as a “ray of light” amid the darkness of the Second World War and held up their example of evangelical love for others.
Their witness to the commandment “Love your neighbour as yourself” offers a timeless call to compassion and courage.
“For our parish, their lives speak to the heart of Christian discipleship: compassion, courage and faithfulness, even unto death,” Fr Dariusz said.
“Their story challenges us to examine how we love others, especially the vulnerable and marginalised.”
Through venerating their relic, St Luke’s parishioners are invited to reflect on the beauty and cost of discipleship — living for others with courage and love.
The Ulmas’ story has also become an important symbol of Christian-Jewish solidarity.
Józef and Wiktoria were posthumously recognised by Yad Vashem, Israel’s official Holocaust remembrance centre, as Righteous Among the Nations in 1995 for risking their lives to shelter Jews during the Holocaust.
Their home village of Markowa now houses a museum commemorating Poles who rescued Jewish people during the Nazi occupation.
The relic installation follows the recent addition of relics of St Faustina and St Charbel at the Revesby church, giving parishioners further opportunities to learn about and venerate these modern saints.
