Polish family killed by Nazis to be beatified in Catholic first

A Polish couple and their seven children, killed by Nazis during World War II for hiding Jews, will be beatified Sunday, the first time an entire family is given one of Catholicism’s highest honors.

The ceremony in the family’s hometown of Markowa in south-east Poland will be attended by over 30,000 people, including 80 bishops, 1,000 priests, the country’s chief rabbi and an Israeli delegation.

It was there, on March 24, 1944, that German police acting on a tip-off shot dead Jozef Ulma and his wife Wiktoria, who was seven months pregnant and partially gave birth during the execution.