GÖRRES, Guido. — Religious writer for the people and youth, b. in Koblenz on 28 May 1805, d. in Munich on 14 July 1852.
He lived always in the shadow of his much more famous father Johann Joseph Görres (q.v.), whom he survived by only about four years. Compared to the “prophetic” power of the latter, Guido was “of a thoughtful innocence, tending toward the poetic” (D.B. Haneberg [q.v.] in the funeral oration). He soon abandoned the scientific career he had begun with promising prospects in history and philology, in order to devote himself, following his affective talent, to educational religious literature.
He distinguished himself as a popular hagiographer with warm tones: Nikolaus von Flüe (1831), Johann von Arc (1834). As a publicist, he remained faithful to his thoughtful nature; until his death he was co-director of the Historisch-politische Blätter, which in 1838 he had founded with others. Excellent is his translation (1839) of the De Imitatione Christi. Among his various poetic attempts, the Marienlieder, composed in Rome in 1842, stand out: in the taste of the time but deeply felt, some of them are still among the hymns dear to German Catholics.