SUSO, Heinrich, Blessed. - Spiritual writer and preacher, Dominican, b. March 23, 1295 (Bihlemeyer) or ca. 1300 (Gröber) at Constance, d. Jan. 25, 1366 at Ulm, where he was buried. His tomb was destroyed under the Protestant regime. At the age of thirteen he entered the Dominicans in the convent on the island near Constance, where, after 5 years, he began a heroic life of penances and prayer, of retreat and great union with God, as a "servant" of Eternal Wisdom, to the point of carving the name of Jesus (IHS) on his chest. He crowned his philosophical and theological studies at the convent school with those at the "Studium generale" of Cologne, where together with Tauler (v.) around 1324 he heard "the sweet doctrines of the holy master" (Eckhart; v. ECCARDO). From 1327 lector at Constance.
S. had to clear himself in a Chapter of the Order in 1330 of the accusation of writing "little books containing erroneous doctrines," that is, in defense of Eckhart (d. 1327), who in 1329 had been censured. Removed from the lectorship (1329-34), S. devoted himself to the composition of writings, to the ministry of the divine word and to the direction of souls, for which he revealed a special charism, traveling through the regions of the upper Rhine in Swabia, Switzerland and Alsace as far as the vicinity of Aachen and Cologne. The "Friends of God" and the Dominican nuns benefited from his admirable doctrine and spiritual experience. To Elisabeth Stagl of Zurich, a nun at Toess, is due in large part the composition of S.'s writings. Following the struggle against Louis the Bavarian, S. with the greater part of the community of Constance moved to Diessenhofen (1338-46). Following calumnies, S. in 1348 was sent to Ulm, where he served as missionary of the region and formed a friendship with Walter of Biberach, cellarer of the abbey of Wiblingen. After his death he was the object of great veneration by the faithful. Gregory XVI on Apr. 16, 1831 confirmed the cult as blessed, and the feast is celebrated in the Dominican Order and in the archdiocese of Freiburg im Breisgau on March 2, in the diocese of Rottenburg on Jan. 28.
S. is the most lovable of the German mystics and perhaps of all mystics universally. Without the speculative boldness of Eckhart, without the finalistic clarity of Tauler, S. surpasses both by fineness and depth of feeling, by poetic impetus and creative imagination. He knows how to express with much feeling the doctrine of his masters St. Bernard, St. Thomas, Eckhart. The theory of purifications is formal and explicit. The ascent to God is necessary and must begin with a conversion (the first). S. does not speak of a general or special call. The beginner must remain in retreat and silence, mortify himself with measure and prudence, renounce created things and persons, lose himself ("wehtuender untergang") and become passive, give himself to God. The second conversion takes place in meditation on the mysteries of Christ; Mary is part of the way to God: tenderly filial are S.'s chapters on Mary; sufferings make one a partaker of the sorrows and merits of the Son of God. Finally the soul reaches mystical union in a transfiguration in God, the higher faculties being united with the Supreme Being in vision, love and supremely joyful fruition. S. summarizes his principles in the motto (Vita, bk. II, ch. 4): "Entbildet werden von der creatur, gebildet werden mit Christus, überbildet werden in die Gottheit."
The influence of S. at the end of the Middle Ages was great throughout Europe, especially before the spread of the De imitatione Christi. The Susonian revival in the 19th and 20th centuries has been treated by Fischer and de Hornstein.
Of his writings S. prepared in 1362 a selection, called Exemplar, which contains: 1) the Vita, formed from information gathered at first by Stagl, corrected and augmented by S.; it is the first autobiography in German literature; its substantial genuineness has been vindicated; 2) the Little Book of Truth (of 1326-27), which treats in dialogue form of the highest mystical speculations against the "brothers" and "sisters of the free spirit" and in favor of Eckhart; 3) the Little Book of Eternal Wisdom, called by H. Denifle the ripest fruit of German mysticism, which, in dialogue form between Wisdom (Christ) and the servant, reaches the peak of literary art; it was very widely circulated, as is evident from hundreds of manuscripts; 4) the Epistolary containing 11 letters of spiritual direction of high psychological and religious interest. Outside the Exemplar are 1) the Horologium Sapientiae, of 1333-34, dedicated to the master general of the Preachers; it is a Latin version or, according to others, a precursor of the Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit; very widely circulated, it was translated into more than 6 languages; 2) some Sermons; 3) the Great Epistolary with 27 or 28 letters; 4) the Minnebüchlein, published by W. Preger in 1896, which, however, is not accepted by all.