Cardinal Parolin plants tree in Vatican as a tribute to Ulma family

By Salvatore Cernuzio

In the Vatican Gardens, a few steps from the Grotto of Lourdes, a place of prayer for popes and pilgrims, the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, presided over a tree planting ceremony, in tribute to the heroic Ulma family.

This is the same tree that Józef Ulma allegedly wanted to plant in the garden of his home in Markowa, Poland, before Nazi troops stormed the house and massacred him, his wife Wiktoria and their seven children, the last one still in his mother's womb. .

What the family, whose members would later be known and revered over time as the “Good Samaritans of Markowa,” was guilty of was giving shelter to eight Jews fleeing persecution.

A true martyrdom, as recognized by the Pope who in September 2023 raised all the members of the family to the honors of the altars, including the unborn child, already proclaimed in 1995 by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem as “Righteous among the nations.”

Eighty years after their bloody sacrifice, a “shocking story”, as Cardinal Parolin said, but at the same time a symbol of Christian love which goes so far as to offer life to others, it was therefore decided to carry out a commemorative act in the heart of the Vatican.

Authorities present to pay tribute

Next to Cardinal Parolin, under a gentle sun which had given way to hail a few minutes earlier, were Minister Grażyna Ignaczak-Bandych, head of the chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland, and Władysław Ortyl, president of Podkarpacie, the region from which the group of pilgrims greeted by the Pope at the end of the General Audience came today. Also present at the ceremony were around thirty members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See, as well as Mgr Adam Szal, Mgr Adam Szal, Metropolitan of Przemyśl.

Together they prayed “for peace and reconciliation” and applauded when Minister Ignaczak-Bandych used the shovel to put soil around the “domestic Glogierówka apple tree”.

The minister then read a letter from Polish President Andrzej Duda to those present, in which the head of state praised the “heroic love” of the Ulma family and “thousands of other silent heroes”, hoping that it would be “a beacon of hope for all those who fear the spread of evil in the world.”

“This”, the letter reads, “is the aim of a campaign launched in the Subcarpathian region with the slogan You will recognize them by their fruits”, through which apple trees are planted – one of which , in 2023, also at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw – as “living, lasting and fruitful monuments of remembrance and gratitude to the great people who were the Poles who saved the Jews during the Second World War”.

Example of evangelical love

Cardinal Parolin also called the tree a “monument” in his opening speech, during which he detailed the story of the Ulma martyrs, “an example of evangelical love lived fully, even to the gift of the life”.

“Today,” said the Cardinal, “we are here to remember and plant an apple tree as an eternal memory of what happened on March 24, 1944 in Markowa, Poland, occupied by the Nazis during the Second War. world. Józef Ulma, with his wife Wiktoria, decided to give refuge to eight Jews from families they knew. According to the testimony of their neighbors, helping those in need was normal for them and welcoming Jews was a decision They were told several times: “Don't hide the Jews, because you will get into trouble.” And Józef replied firmly: “They are people… I will never drive them out.”

The martyrdom of the Ulma family

The Ulmas, continues Cardinal Parolin, are denounced, a patrol of Nazi gendarmes arrives at their home. They were all killed: first the eight Jews, then Wiktoria and her husband, so that the villagers would see the punishment that awaited those who hid the Jews. The six children began to scream but they too were murdered. In a few minutes, 17 people died, including the Ulmas' seventh child, still in his mother's womb, in the final stages of pregnancy. Even to this unborn child, whose name is known only to heaven, the palm of martyrdom has been recognized. »

In particular, the State Secretary focused on the figure of Józef, not only a simple farmer but also a “great social activist and a great innovator”, specialized in vegetable and fruit cultivation, beekeeping , with a passion for photography that led him to build his own camera and photographic laboratory.

“The apple tree that is planted today comes directly from a tree grafted by Blessed Józef Ulma”, underlined the Cardinal, adding: “We feel true admiration at the testimony of this family…”

From there he expressed a “tribute to all those who, in tragic moments of history, risked their lives to help the persecuted, and during the Second World War in particular the Jews.”

Warning against totalitarian ideologies

Cardinal Parolin then invoked “the gift of reconciliation and peace in the world,” accompanying his invocation with an appeal. “We want to emphasize that all totalitarian ideologies, everywhere in the world, always bring hatred, suffering and death, and cause devastating tragedies.

“My hope,” he added, “is that this initiative, through the example and intercession of the blessed martyr Ulma, helps us live the words of our Lord: This is my command: ' love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than to lay down one's life for one's friends.'”

This, concluded the Secretary of State, is “the only way to build a fairer, more fraternal and more united world”.

After the greetings and the group photo, before the blessing, the Cardinal wanted to recite three Glorias and address another prayer to God because “He helps us to live with the same feelings and attitudes as the Ulmas. This is the only way to build something.” new, this love which knows how to extend to the gift of one's life…

“This is a shocking story from the Ulma family, but a great example for all of us,” he said, “especially in this world situation we find ourselves in.”