Suso, Heinrich, Blessed (SUSO, HEINRICH, BEATO) - Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. XI, p. 963

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

SUSO, HEINRICH, blessed. – Spiritual writer and preacher, Dominican, born on 23 March 1295 (Bihlemeyer) or around 1300 (Gröber) at Constance, died on 25 January 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 five years, he began a heroic life of penance and prayer, of withdrawal and profound union with God, as a «servant» of Eternal Wisdom, even going so far as to carve the name of Jesus (IHS) on his chest. He completed his philosophical and theological studies at the convent school with those at the «Studium generale» of Cologne, where, Taulero (v.), around 1324 he listened to «the sweet doctrines of the holy master» (Eckart; V. ECCARDO). From 1327, lecturer at Constance.

S. had to clear himself before a Chapter of the Order in 1330 of the accusation of writing «little books containing erroneous doctrines», that is, in defence of Eckart (d. in 1327), who had been censured in 1329. Removed from the lectureship (1329–34), S. devoted himself to the preparation of writings, to the ministry of the divine word, and to the direction of souls, for which he revealed a special charism, travelling 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

(Alinari photograph)
SUSANNA - The two elders seek to lead S. into sin. Fresco by Pinturicchio in the Borgia apartments (late 1492–95). Apostolic Palace, Vatican City.

and spiritual experience. Elisabetta Stagl of Zurich, a nun at Toess, was largely responsible for the composition of S.’s writings. Following the struggle against Ludwig the Bavarian, S. moved with most of the Constance community to Diessenhofen (1338–46). As a result of calumnies, S. was sent to Ulm in 1348, where he served as a missionary in the surrounding country and formed a friendship with Walter of Biberach, cellarer of the abbey of Wiblingen. After his death he became an object of great veneration among the faithful. Gregory XVI confirmed the cult as that of a blessed on 16 April 1831, and his feast is celebrated in the Dominican Order and in the archdiocese of Freiburg in Br. on 2 March, and in the diocese of Rottenburg on 28 January.

S. is the most amiable of the German mystics and perhaps of all mystics universally. Without Eckart’s speculative boldness, without Tauler’s teleological clarity, S. surpasses both in delicacy and depth of feeling, in poetic inspiration and creative imagination. He knows how to express with great feeling the teaching of his masters, St. Bernard, St. Thomas, and Eckart. The theory of the 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 vocation. The beginner must remain in retreat and silence, mortify himself with moderation and prudence, renounce created things and persons, lose himself («wehtuender untergang») and become passive, giving himself to God. The second conversion takes place through meditation on the mysteries of Christ; Mary forms part of the way to God: S.’s chapters on Mary are tenderly filial; sufferings make one participate in the sorrows and merits of the Son of God. Finally, the soul attains mystical union in a transfiguration into God, its higher faculties being united with the supreme Being in vision, love, and supreme joyful enjoyment. S. summarizes his principles in the motto (Vita, l. II, chap. 4): «Entbildet werden von der creatur, gebildet werden mit Christus, überbildet werden in die Gottheit».

S.’s influence at the end of the Middle Ages was great throughout Europe, especially before the spread of the De imitatione Christi. Fischer and de Hornstein have treated the Susonian revival in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Of his writings, S. prepared a selection in 1362, called Exemplar, which contains: 1) the Vita, composed from information initially collected by Stagl and corrected and expanded by S.; it is the first autobiography in German literature, and its substantial authenticity has been defended; 2) the Libretto della verità (of 1326–27), which treats, in dialogue form, the highest mystical speculations against the «brothers» and «sisters of the free spirit» and in favor of Eckart;
3) the Libretto della Sapienza eterna, called by H. De-
nifle the most mature fruit of German mysticism, which, in
the form of a dialogue between Wisdom (Christ) and the servant,
reaches the pinnacle of literary art; it was extremely widespread,
as is shown by hundreds of manuscripts; 4) the Epistolario con-
taining 11 letters of spiritual direction of great psychological
and religious interest. Excluded from the Exemplar are: 1) the Horo-
logium Sapientiae, of 1333–34, dedicated to the master general
of the Friars Preachers; it is a Latin redaction or, according
to others, a precursor of the Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit;
extremely widespread, it was translated into more than six
languages; 2) some Sermoni; 3) the Grande epistolario with 27
or 28 letters; 4) the Minnebüchlein, published by W. Preger in
1896, though it is not accepted by everyone.

BIBL.: works: the editio princeps of the German writings was edited by F. Fabri (Augsburg 1482), critical ed. by K. Bihlaeyser (Stutt- gart 1907); Latin trans. by L. Surius (Cologne 1555, etc.), modern German ed. by M. Diepenbrock (Regensburg 1828: 4th ed. there 1884), H. S. Denifle (Munich 1880, in part), W. Lehmann (Jena 1911; 2nd ed. there 1922); Italian ed. Ignazio Del Nente, Vita e opere del b. E. S., Florence 1642, partial editions by H. S. Denifle, La vita soprannaturale (Turin 1911; 3rd ed. there 1930); Il libro della sag- gezza eterna (Milan 1942). The Horologium had editions in Paris 1470, Cologne 1479, etc., up to 1861, Turin 1929. - Studies: W. Preger, Gesch. d. deutschen Mystik, II, Leipzig 1881, pp. 309–418; X. de Ornstein, Les grands mystiques allemands du XIVe siècle, Lucerne 1922, pp. 221–93; F. Überweg-B. Geyer, Die patrist. u. scholast. Philosophie, 11th ed., Berlin 1928, pp. 629–32, 790; G. Fischer, Die Entdeckung d. deutschen Mystiker Eckhart, Tauler u. Seuse im 19. Jahrh., Freiburg 1931; C. Gröber, Der Mystiker H. S., Freiburg 1941; J. Bühlmann, Die Christulative u. Christsamystik bei H. S., Lucerne 1942; J. Ancelot-Hustache, Le b. H. S., Paris 1943; G. Faggin, M. Eckhart e la mistica tedesca prepro- testante, Milan 1946; R. Lavaud, L'oeuvre mystique de H. S., I, Freiburg-Paris 1946, pp. 1–80, Introduction; J. A. Bizet, S. et le Minnevang, Paris 1946; id., H. S. et le déclin de la sco- lastique, there 1946; F. W. Wenslaff-Eggebert, Deutsche Mystik zwischen Mittelalter u. Neuzeit, 2nd ed., Tübingen 1947, pp. 118– 129, 309–11; J. M. Clark, The great german mystics, Eckhart, Tauler and S., Oxford 1949, pp. 55–74, 114–17; D. Planzer, H. S. on the spiritual life, in Cross and Crown, 2 (1950), pp. 58–79. Angelo Walz