Background
Gudenus was a descendant of a Calvinist family which had removed from Utrecht to Hesse.
Catholic preacher Archbishop of Mainz
Gudenus was a descendant of a Calvinist family which had removed from Utrecht to Hesse.
After attending school at Cassel he continued his studies at the University of Marburg, in which city he subsequently acted as deacon of the reformed church. Gudenus lost his office because of his refusal to adopt the Augsburg Confession. He returned to Cassel, was appointed assistant at Abterode, and in 1625 became pastor there.
The reading of Bellarmine"s works revealed to him the Catholic doctrine in its true light, and after careful study he and his family were received into the Church in 1630.
The conversion was made at the cost of considerable personal sacrifices. After a time of need and trials Gudenus was named high bailiff at Treffurt, a position which he held until his death.
His funeral panegyric was delivered by Herwig Boning, representative of the Archbishop of Mainz in the district of Eichsfeld and parish priest of Duderstadt. viro Dno. Mauritio Gudeno, electorali Moguntino praefecto in Trefurt p.m. sive ejusdem de sua ad fidem romano-catholicam conversione et divina erga se providentia narratio" (Duderstadt, 1686).
John Daniel became Auxiliary Bishop of Mainz.
John Maurice, electoral and imperial counsellor and praetor at Erfurt, wrote a history of that city, "Historia Erfurtensis" (Duderstadt, 1675). Doctor John Christopher, who was diplomatic representative of the Archdiocese of Mainz at Vienna, and Doctor Urban Ferdinand, who occupied a university chair, became the founders of the two noble branches of the Gudenus family, which still flourish in Austria.