After the war, his grandmother had lived with a Catholic family in Bavaria before emigrating to join her surviving family in Pennsylvania, where she lived until her death in 1955.
She had worn the dress the rest of her days.
"We took it with us to the beatification," said Isajiw.
In 1941, both Fr. Konrad and Antonina had decided not to leave Ukraine, even though family members could secure them emigration papers to Germany. Fr. Konrad had been an academic all his life. His assignment in Stradtch would be his first parish role.
Half of the residents were illiterate. Antonina began teaching the children to read and write.
A Soviet military installation was about a mile from the village church.
On June 22, 1941, Blessed Nicholas was leading a procession for the Feast of Corpus Christi when the military base came under attack from the invading Germans.
"He took everyone back into the church and gave his famous sermon: 'Be not afraid,' Little knowing that four days later he'd be dead," the priest's grandson recounted.
Isajiw summarized one account of the homily:
"He said all our lives are changed. The war is started. Who knows what will happen? But we're not going to change. We'll keep doing what we're doing, taking care of ourselves, taking care of our families, not panicking and not changing our lifestyle, trusting in God."
Isajiw, who never met his grandfather, said it felt very special to be the grandson of a martyr.
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"I feel closer to him now, after studying all this," he said. "His heroic virtue was he already knew priests were being targeted, and he still went with the sacraments."
Blessed Nicholas Konrad is known as a patron of students and his active canonization cause is promoted by many at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv. There are pilgrimages to the site of his execution, and the priests at Stradtch hold retreats. He is often petitioned by those seeking relief from addiction to drugs, alcohol or smoking.
And thanks to Antonina, his cassock is well-preserved, now a holy relic of his martyrdom.
Kevin J. Jones is a senior staff writer with Catholic News Agency. He was a recipient of a 2014 Catholic Relief Services' Egan Journalism Fellowship.