Saint Mary Magdalene High School in Poznań

Saint Mary Magdalene High School
The entrance to Saint Mary's viewed from the side of the Bernardines' Square (2012)
Address
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24 Garbary, Old Town Poznań , Greater Poland Province , 61-867 Poland
Coordinates	52°24′12″N 16°56′19″E / 52.40333°N 16.93861°E / 52.40333; 16.93861Coordinates: 52°24′12″N 16°56′19″E / 52.40333°N 16.93861°E / 52.40333; 16.93861
Information
Other names	Latin: Ad sanctam Mariam Magdalenam
Type	Public, university-preparatory school
Motto	Latin: Salus Rei Publicae suprema lex (The welfare of the Republic shall be the supreme law)
Patron saint(s)	Mary Magdalene formerly Thomas Aquinas
Established	1573; 448 years ago (1573)
School board	Capital City of Poznań Department of Education
Principal	Jerzy Sokół
Key people	Hipolit Cegielski · Karol Libelt · Karol Marcinkowski
Nickname	Marynka
Former pupils	Marynkarze
Website	marynka.edu.pl

Saint Mary Magdalene High School in Poznań (Polish: Liceum Ogólnokształcące św. Marii Magdaleny; Latin: Ad sanctam Mariam Magdalenam; colloquially simply as Marynka) is one of the oldest and one of the most prestigious and selective high schools in Poland. School is noted for its alumni, its academics, and the large number of graduates attending prestigious universities.^[1] Marynka has educated statesmen, scholars and generations of the intelligentsia and has been referred to as "the chief nurse of Poland's elites".^[2][3]

History and reputation[]

Church of Saint Francis of Assisi next to the school, part of the Order of Friars Minor Abbey in Poznań (2014)

The school was founded in 1303. In 1939, in recognition of its importance and to thank the school for educating many generations of best scientists, artists and politicians in its 600 years of history, the school was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta by the last free Poland's President Ignacy Mościcki.^[4][5]

The schools central administrative building (built in 1853) is located on the East side of Bernardines' Square at the Southern end of the Garbary street.

Notable alumni[]

Gymnasium's diploma (1846)

Among its alumni the school counts writers (Jan Kasprowicz, Józef Kościelski) Enigma codebreaker Henryk Zygalski, clergy (Primate of Poland Leon Przyłuski, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Father Marian Żelazek), six rectors of research universities (including Kazimierz Morawski, rector of Jagiellonian University and candidate for the office of President of Poland in 1922), renowned legal scholars (Prof. Michał Sczaniecki, Prof. Witalis Ludwiczak), physicians (Prof. Wiktor Dega, Dr. Karol Marcinkowski) and politicians.^[6][7]

Szkoła Wydziałowa[]

• Leon Michał Przyłuski (1789-1865), Roman Catholic Bishop and Archbishop of Gniezno and Primate of Poland in the years 1845–1865, who was active in the Polish independence movement of the late 1800s.
• Ignacy Prądzyński (1792–1850), military commander and a general of the Polish Army. A veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, he was one of the most successful Polish commanders of the November Uprising against Russia.
• Sir Paweł Strzelecki KCB CMG FRGS MRS (1797–1873), explorer and geologist who in 1845 also became a British subject.
• Karol Marcinkowski (1800–1846), physician, social activist in the Grand Duchy of Poznań.

St. Mary Magdalene Gymnasium[]

• Felicjan Sypniewski (1822–1877), naturalist, botanist, entomologist, malacologist, algologist and philosopher. His ground-breaking studies and scientific publications influenced the next generations of Polish naturalists and have laid down foundations of malacology.
• Karol Libelt (1807-1875), philosopher, writer, political and social activist, social worker and liberal, nationalist politician, president of the Poznań Society of Friends of Learning.
• Teodor Teofil Matecki (1810–1886), physician, social activist and member of Poznań Society of Friends of Learning.
• Hipolit Cegielski (1813–1868), businessman and social and cultural activist.
• Władysław Niegolewski (1819-1885), liberal politician and member of parliament, insurgent in Greater Poland Uprising 1846, Greater Poland Uprising 1848 and January Uprising 1863, cofounder of Central Economic Society (TCL) in 1861 and People's Libraries Society (CTG) in 1880.
• Edmund Taczanowski (1822-1879), general, insurrectionist, member of the Taczanowski magnate dynasty, and Lord of the estate of Choryń in the province of Poznań.
• Edward Likowski (1836-1915), Archbishop of Poznań and Gniezno and primate of the Catholic Church in Poland.
• Florian Stablewski (1841-1906), priest and politician, archbishop of Poznań and Gniezno, and member of the Prussian parliament.
• Józef Kościelski (1845-1911), poet, politician and parliamentarian, co-founder of the Straż (Guard) society.
• Kazimierz Morawski (1852-1925), classical philologist, historian, translator, professor and rector of Jagiellonian University, president of Polish Academy of Learning, candidate for the President of Poland, Knight of the Order of the White Eagle.
• Jan Kasprowicz (1860–1926), poet, playwright, critic and translator; a foremost representative of Young Poland.
• Bogdan Raczkowski (1888-1939), influential engineer, builder and urbanist in Bydgoszcz, from the 1920s till the outbreak of WWII.
• Wojciech Trąmpczyński (1860-1953), lawyer and National Democratic politician. Voivode of the Poznań Voivodeship in 1919. He served as marshal of the Sejm of Poland from 1919 to 1922 and Senate of Poland from 1922 to 1928.
• Bernard Chrzanowski (1861-1944), social and political activist, president of the Union of the Greater Poland Falcons.
• Cyryl Ratajski (1875–1942), politician and lawyer.
• Kazimierz Cwojdziński (1878-1948), mathematician, professor of the School of Engineering in Poznań.
• Wiktor Dega (1896-1995), surgeon. He was an orthopedist who was well known for his work on polio. He served as an expert for the World Health Organization. He created new apparatus and devices to help accident victims and survivors of polio, as well as new therapies and operations for congenital dislocations of the hip.
• Henryk Zygalski (1908–1978), mathematician and cryptologist who worked at breaking German Enigma ciphers before and during World War II.
• Witalis Ludwiczak (1910-1988), ice hockey player who competed in the 1932 Winter Olympics and in the 1936 Winter Olympics.
• Jerzy Waldorff-Preyss of the Nabram coat of arms (1910–1999), Polish baron, attorney, a TV personality, writer, publicist, literary critic and music aficionado.
• Cardinal Adam Kozłowiecki, S.J., (1911-2007), was Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Lusaka in Zambia.

References[]