**SUSO, HEINRICH, Blessed.** - Spiritual writer and preacher, Dominican, b. March 23, 1295 (Bihlmeyer) or c. 1300 (Gröber) at Constance, d. January 25, 1366 at Ulm, where he was buried. His tomb was destroyed during the Protestant regime. At the age of thirteen he entered the Dominicans at the convent on the Island near Constance, where, after five years, he began a heroic life of penance and prayer, of seclusion and great union with God, as a "servant" of Eternal Wisdom, even to the point of carving 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* in Cologne, where, together with Tauler (v.), c. 1324 he heard "the sweet doctrines of the holy master" (Eckhart; V. ECKHART). From 1327 he was lector at Constance.
S. had to defend himself in a Chapter of the Order in 1330 against the accusation of writing "little books containing erroneous doctrines," namely in defense of Eckhart (d. 1327), who in 1329 had been censured. Removed from the lectorate (1329-34), S. devoted himself to writing, 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 Aix-la-Chapelle and Cologne. The "Friends of God" and the Dominican nuns benefited from his wonderful doctrine.
His spiritual experience. Much of the composition of S.'s writings is due to Elisabeth Stagl of Zurich, a nun at Toess. Following the struggle against Louis the Bavarian, S. with most of the community of Constance moved to Diessenhofen (1338-46). After slanderous accusations, in 1348 he was sent to Ulm, where he became a missionary in 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 April 16, 1831 confirmed his cult as blessed, and his feast is celebrated in the Dominican Order and in the archdiocese of Freiburg in Br. on March 2, and in the diocese of Rottenburg on January 28.
S. is the most lovable of the German mystics and perhaps of all mystics universally. Without the speculative daring of Eckhart or the clear finality of Tauler, S. surpasses both in the refinement and depth of his feeling, in poetic impulse and creative imagination. He expresses with great feeling the doctrine of his masters St. Bernard, St. Thomas, and 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 calling. The beginner must remain in seclusion 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 is made 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 in 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 supreme joyful fruition. S. summarizes his principles in the motto (Vita, bk. II, ch. 4): "Entbilde 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 Imitation of Christ*. The Swabian revival in the 19th and 20th centuries has been treated by Fischer and de Hornstein.
Of his writings, in 1362 S. prepared a selection, called the *Exemplar*, which contains: 1) the *Vita*, formed from information first collected by Stagl, corrected and enlarged by S.; it is the first autobiography in German literature; its substantial genuineness has been claimed; 2) the *Little Book of Truth* (from 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 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 widely diffused, 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*, from 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*; widely diffused, it was translated into more than six languages; 2) some *Sermons*; 3) the *Great Epistolary* with 27 or 28 letters; 4) the *Minnebüchlein*, published by W. Preger in 1806, which, however, is not accepted by all.