While the universal Church is just now getting to know the Ulma family — and finding ourselves in awe at their testimony and what this family means for the Church everywhere — in their hometown of Markowa, they’ve been well known for decades.
They were known and loved by their neighbors even before their tragic deaths, and have since become known further. Locals call them the Good Samaritans of Markowa.
In an extensive interview at Our Sunday Visitor with the postulator of their beatification cause, we learn that the family Bible of the Ulmas had just a few verses underlined.
Father Witold Burda explained to OSV:
There are two [two sections; technically three verses, editor’s note] underlined verses in the Bible found in their home, and they’re under the title of the parable of the Good Samaritan. It is necessary to speak out about it and even more so about the fact that there is the word “yes” added in pencil next to it. We want to live this way.
“Yes”
What are those verses, underlined by either the father, Jozef, or the mother, Wiktoria, of the family?
[Update: Aleteia has been made aware of some slight variance in the reports about what is underlined in the family Bible. In the preface to the book Martyred and Blessed Together: The Extraordinary Story of the Ulma Family, the postulator reports:
First, “For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?” from chapter 5 of Matthew’s Gospel, the famous Sermon on the Mount, which states the duties of a Christian.
Second, the title of chapter 10 of the Gospel of Luke is underlined in red:“The Good Samaritan.” And next to it is a note with a single word: “Yes.”
A previous report was that the following verses are underlined:]
“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Lk 10:27, quoting Deuteronomy 6)
and
“A Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion when he saw him: He went up to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. He then lifted him onto his own mount and took him to an inn and looked after him” (Lk 10:33-34).
Learn about this family, the first to be beatified together, here.
And today we celebrate...