MANDÉ, HENRICUS. - Ascetical writer, b. at Dordrecht (Holland) ca. 1360, d. at Beverwijk ca. 1430. Official secretary at the court of William IV, Count of Holland, moved by the preaching of Gerard Groote (ca. 1375, v.), he felt called to a more perfect life, but resolved upon it only after repeated apparitions of the suffering Savior.
He joined the Brothers of the Common Life at Deventer, then entered the Congregation of Windesheim as a simple «redditus», that is, as a layman with all the privileges and offices of the choir priests. There he came to know Johannes Vos de Heusden, Gerlach Peters and other celebrities of the «Devotio moderna» (v.), and he devoted himself to the solitude of prayer, where, according to the chronicler J. Busch, he had frequent heavenly visitations. His continual sufferings prepared him to understand St. Lydwina of Schiedam, whom he went to visit. Advanced in years, he went to Beverwijk to help in the foundation of the monastery of Syon, and there he died.
M.'s principal occupation consisted in illuminating manuscripts, but he also devoted himself to composing ascetical and mystical writings, which, however, are for the most part compilations of extracts from various authors whom he does not cite, such as Hadewijch, Ruysbroek and others; he translated Rodolphus de Bilraco or Biberach (De septem itineribus aeternitatis), Hugo de Balma (Mystica theologia), the Epistola Processus, etc. His merit therefore lay in making accessible in the vernacular treatises that would otherwise have been inaccessible.
Bibliography3 works
Alberto Ampe