SUSO [SEUSE], HEINRICH (c. 130o-1366), German mystic, was born at Uberlingen on Lake Constance; he assumed the name of his mother, his father being a Herr von Berg. He was educated for the Church, first at Constance, then at Cologne, where he came under the influence of the greatest of the German mystics, Meister Eckart. He subsequently entered a monastery in Constance, where he subjected himself to the severest ordeals of asceticism. In 1335 he wandered through Swabia as a preacher, and won all hearts by his gentle, persuasive eloquence; the effusive lyricism of his language made him an especial favourite among the nuns. About 1348 he seems to have settled in Ulm, where he died on Jan. 25, 1366. Suso's first work, Das Bfichlein der Wahrheit, was written in Cologne about 1329; setting out from Eckart's doctrines, he presents the mystic faith from its speculative or theoretical side; whereas in Das Bfichlein der ewigen Weisheit, written some years later in Constance, he dis cusses the practical aspects of mysticism. The latter work, which
Suso also translated into Latin under the title of Horologium sapientiae, has been called the finest fruit of German mysticism.
Suso's works were collected as early as 1482 and again in 1512; recent editions: Heinrich Suso's Leben and Schriften, ed. by M. Diepenbrock (1829; 4th ed., 1884) ; Suso's Deutsche Schriften, by F. H. S. Denifle (1878-188o, not completed), and Deutsche Schriften, by K. Bihlmeyer (2 vols., See also W Preger, Die Briefe Heinrich Susos (1867) ; W. Preger, Geschichte der deutschen Mystik (1882), vol. ii. ; J. Tager, Heinrich Sense aus Schwaben (1894) ; and The Life of Blessed H. Suso, by Himself (1913) , trans. by T. F Knox, with introd. by W. R. Inge.