Faced With Terminal Diagnosis, Family Turns to the Ulmas

Sept. 1, 2023

A Knight and his family sought the intercession of the Ulma family after receiving a terminal diagnosis

By Andrew J. Matt

Sept. 1, 2023

Kelly Lindquist and her children pray at the grave site of the Ulma family. — Kelly Lindquist and her children pray at the grave site of the Ulma family in Markowa, Poland, in July 2022. (Photo by Jackie Pluta)

On March 24, 2021, Ian and Kelly Lindquist of Hyattsville, Maryland, were informed about the results of Ian’s second blood test.

“I think that Ian has leukemia,” the doctor told the couple, who were parents of six children at the time, with a seventh on the way.

Aware that the couple was Catholic, she immediately added, “I already know which saints you should pray to for a miracle: the Ulma family.”

Thus began a completely unexpected relationship between the Lindquist and Ulma families, marked by mysterious ties of nature and grace.

To start, the Ulmas were martyred by the Nazis on March 24, 1944, exactly 77 years before Ian, a Knight of Columbus and a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, was diagnosed. Both families had six children under the age of 8; and both mothers, Kelly Lindquist and Wiktoria Ulma, were expecting their seventh child.

The ties of grace soon became felt as Ian’s condition rapidly deteriorated.

“I remember praying to the Ulmas one night before Ian was hospitalized; I could tell he was really, really sick,” Kelly recalled. “I felt this strong sense of their presence — that they were taking care of my husband and me and the baby inside me and all of our children — and I knew that they were going to be with us on the journey.”

Ian’s cancer was identified as one of the most aggressive — acute myeloid leukemia. The family put out urgent calls for prayers as they began what Kelly called a “chemo/leukemia dance.”

“Thousands of people were praying for us,” Kelly said, “and we just asked them to pray for healing through the intercession of the Ulmas.” After eight months, the cancer went into remission. But in early 2022, it came back.

“That’s when I asked for a relic,” Kelly explained. “I just said, ‘If anyone knows how to contact Markowa and get us a relic of the Ulma family, can you please try?’”

Jerzy Ulma, a nephew of Józef Ulma, heard the appeal and sent a book signed by Józef himself. Urszula Niemczak, who is married to Wiktoria’s nephew Franciszek, sent a piece of wood from the doorframe of the family’s house, as well as a rosary made from a tree in the Ulma family’s garden. Eventually, the entire village of Markowa began praying for Ian.

Meanwhile, the Lindquist family would pray the rosary together every night.

“And at the end of that rosary, we invoked all of the Ulmas by name, and we still do to this day,” Kelly said. “They’re very much a part of our home; they can never leave, we won’t let them,” she added with a laugh.

By this time, Kelly had given birth to a daughter, whom they named Victoria Maria Josephine, after Wiktoria and Józef Ulma and their youngest daughter, Maria. Now 2 years old, she is nicknamed Cora.

“I certainly think that prayers of intercession to the whole family sustained Ian’s life long enough for Cora to be born and for him to meet her,” Kelly said.

Yet Kelly is certain the family received an even greater gift.

“There was just so much healing that took place between Ian and me, so much grace and peace in our family and very little fear or anger. I feel like that was the bigger miracle that took place,” Kelly said. “We were so confident that God and the Ulma family were with us the entire time that there was no reason to be afraid at all.”

Ian Lindquist died May 5, 2022, at 35.

Two months later, Kelly and her children traveled to Markowa, where they were hosted by Franciszek and Urszula Niemczak.

“It was so clear that I needed to thank the Ulmas and to venerate the places where they had been buried and where they had died,” Kelly said. “And to thank their family members and the people of Markowa who had done so much for us.”

Kelly and her children visited the Ulma family’s home and their grave site, as well as the Museum of Poles Saving Jews in World War II, where Ulma family memorabilia is on display.

In gratitude to the Niemczaks, Kelly gave them the rosary she prayed with during Ian’s long ordeal and which she had touched to his body.

“This rosary was for me the first sign of the Ulma family beatification,” Urszula Niemczak said in an interview with OSV News earlier this year. “The rosary that Kelly gave us we pray every night. It is like a relic to us, a sign of victory of life over death.”

*****

ANDREW J. MATT is managing editor of Columbia and a member of Father Kuster Council 3037 in Chester, Conn.

A portrait of Maryknoll Father (later Bishop) Patrick Byrne is shown beside those of Columban missionaries Msgr. Patrick Brennan and Father James Maginn.

Faced With Terminal Diagnosis, Family Turns to the Ulmas

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