SANDAEUS (Van der Sandt), Maximilianus. - Jesuit theologian, prolific ascetic and mystical writer, b. in Amsterdam on 18 April 1578, d. in Cologne on 21 June 1651. He studied letters at Groningen, then at Cologne, in the Jesuits' Collegium Tricoronatum, the liberal arts and philosophy ("master" on 3 March 1597), and finally law at Pont-à-Mousson. After his father's death, he went to Italy, where he studied for brief periods at the Universities of Padua, Bologna and Siena.
He was admitted into the Society of Jesus by Claudio Acquaviva (1597) in Rome, where he made his novitiate and his theological studies, and was ordained a priest. He made his third year of probation at Sezze under Fr. Bernardino Rossignoli. He then went to Würzburg (Germany) and from 1605 to 1631 taught philosophy and then theology at the University; he directed the episcopal Seminary of Würzburg. At Mainz and at Cologne (from 1631) he was an active preacher.
His activity as a professor and preacher did not slow his output as a controversialist, ascetic and mystical writer. He could declare without exaggeration: Quot annos vixi, tot libris scripsi. At his death almost as many unpublished manuscripts were still found. His style, so admired by his contemporaries, is no longer appreciated today because it is overloaded with recherché expressions, baroque witticisms, and artificial symbols and allegories. Theologia medica (Cologne 1635, 2nd ed. 1642) is a complete ascetic treatise; no less erudite is Theologia mystica (Mainz 1627), and especially Clavis Theologiae mysticae, from which Angelus Silesius (v.) drew much. S.'s enduring merit is the defense of the mystical tradition, both in the Society and in the Church.
Bibliography3 works
Alberto Ampe