Maria Springer

Maria Springer, aka Maria z Gniezna, (1824–1872) was a Polish poet, philanthropist and fashion designer.

Life Maria was born in Bydgoszcz in 1824 to Adolf Springer, a judge, and Nepomucena née Jelnicka, a teacher.

Her father died when she was 3 years old (1827), while the family was in Krotoszyn, where Adolf Springer was a lawyer. As a result, her mother, Nepomucena, moved to Gniezno with Maria and her sister Gabriela. There, the sisters attended .

In order to sustain the family, Nepomucena took a job as a needlework teacher at the same school. and Karol Ney (1809–1850), a writer, illustrator and rector of St. John's School.

Maria could observe in her lifetime two uprisings of the Polish people against the Kingdom of Prussia in Wielkopolska, in 1846 and 1848.

In Gniezno, Maria's mother founded the first fabric shop of the city From 1848 onwards, Maria, together with her mother and sister, have been running the retail establishment selling clothing and tailoring materials. They regularly donated a major part of their profit to help the poor and schoolchildren. Deotyma ran a lively social salon in Warsaw in parallel to her literary work, which helped Springer to find an audience in the Polish capital. Maria even designed some hats that Łuszczewska wore.

Maria Springer never married nor had any children. She died of tuberculosis on 6 February 1872. She was buried in the family burial vault at the .

Maria Springer was closer to mystical poetics than to typically devotional religious poetry. Her texts incorporate phrases from the narrative of St. John of the Cross, from whom she borrows metaphors of light and dark night.

Works Poezje Maryi z Gniezna – , Gniezno, 1849; Poezji religijnych – , three volumes, Poznań, 1854–1857. One of the poems includes a reminder of Poland's 900th anniversary. The poet describes the nursery and Christmas Eve in 1856. The author recalls Poland's historical splendour and its beginnings in Gniezno.