Those visiting the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate conception for the March for Life Prayer Vigil and Pep Rally will be just a block’s walk away from the St. John Paul II National Shrine, which is hosting an exhibition of first-class relics of the recently beatified Ulma family. The display went up on January 12 and will remain open to visitors and pilgrims through the month of March.
Aleteia previously reported on Pope Francis’ beatification of the entire Ulma family in September, 2023. During the Nazi persecution of Jews in WWII, Józef and Wiktoria Ulma and their seven children were executed on March 24, 1944, along with the Goldmanns, the Jewish family of eight they had been sheltering for a year and a half. The Ulma family’s beatification was the first time the Catholic Church has ever beatified an entire family at once, including an unborn child.
The exhibit is titled “The Good Samaritans of Markowa: The Sacrificial Love of the Ulma Family,” and it includes first-class relics, meaning actual parts of the bodies of the blesseds. Catholic Standard reports that the display includes 20 poster panels depicting the Ulma family’s daily life, their Catholic faith, and efforts to protect the Jewish community in their village.
The first-class relics on display include bone fragments from each member of the Ulma family. The relics are all kept in the same reliquary, which was made to resemble a family tree with depictions of the family cast in gold.
“The Good Samaritans of Markowa” exhibit will be open to the public until the end of March, concluding just after the 80th anniversary of the Ulma Family’s martyrdom. There exhibition is offered to all visitors free of charge and without appointment. The St. John Paul II National Shrine is open from 10 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. weekdays, and 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. on weekends.
And today we celebrate...