Henry Suso
Blessed Henry Suso Free Imperial City of Überlingen, Holy Roman Empire | |
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Died | 25 January 1366 Free Imperial City of Ulm, Holy Roman Empire | (aged 70)
Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church (Dominican Order) |
Beatified | 1831 by Pope Gregory XVI |
Feast | 25 January (previously 2 March) |
Influences | Meister Eckhart |
Part of a series on |
Christian mysticism |
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Henry Suso, OP (also called Amandus, a name adopted in his writings, and Heinrich Seuse or Heinrich von Berg
Biography
Suso was born Heinrich von Berg, a member of the ruling family of
In the prologue to his Life, Suso recounts how, after about five years in the monastery (in other words, when he was about 18 years old), he experienced a conversion to a deeper form of
Career
Suso was then sent on for further studies in philosophy and theology, probably first at the Dominican monastery in
Returning to his home priory at Constance in about 1327, Suso was appointed to the office of lector (lecturer). His teaching, however, aroused criticism – most likely because of his connection with Eckhart in the wake of the latter's trial and condemnation in 1326–29. Suso's Little Book of Truth, a short defence of Eckhart's teaching, probably dates from this time, perhaps 1329. In 1330 this treatise, and another, were denounced as heretical by enemies in the Order. Suso traveled to the Dominican
Knowledge of Suso's activities in subsequent years is somewhat sketchy. It is known that he served as prior of the Constance convent – most likely between 1330 and 1334, though possibly in the 1340s.
Suso shared in the exile of the Dominican community from Constance between 1339 and 1346, during the most heated years of the quarrel originally between Pope John XXII and the Holy Roman Emperor, continued by Pope Benedict XII. He was transferred to the monastery at Ulm in about 1348. He seems to have remained there for the rest of his life. Here, during his final years (possibly 1361–63), he edited his four vernacular works into The Exemplar.
Suso died in Ulm on 25 January 1366.
Mortifications
Early in his life, Suso subjected himself to extreme forms of mortifications; later on he reported that God told him they were unnecessary. During this period, Suso devised for himself several painful devices. Some of these were: an undergarment studded with a hundred and fifty brass nails, a very uncomfortable door to sleep on, and a cross with thirty protruding needles and nails under his body as he slept. In the autobiographical text in which he reports these, however, he ultimately concludes that they are unnecessary distractions from the love of God.[8]
Writings
Suso's first work was the Büchlein der Wahrheit (Little Book of Truth) written between 1328 and 1334 in Constance. This was a short defence of the teaching of Meister Eckhart, who had been tried for heresy and condemned in 1328–29. In 1330 this treatise and another (possibly the Little Book of Eternal Wisdom) were denounced as heretical by Dominican opponents, leading Suso to travel to the Dominican General Chapter held at Maastricht in 1330 to defend himself.[7]
Suso's next book, Das Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit (The Little Book of Eternal Wisdom), written around 1328–1330,
At some point in the following decades, Stagel formed a collection of 28 of Suso's letters in the Grosses Briefbuch (Great Book of Letters), which survives. Suso also wrote a long text purporting to tell the story of his spiritual life and ascetic practices (variously referred to as the Life of the Servant, Life, Vita, or Leben Seuses), and revised the Büchlein der Wahrheit and the Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit. At some point in his later years, perhaps 1361–63, he collected these works, together with 11 of his letters (the Briefbüchlein, or Little Book of Letters, a selection of letters from the Grosses Briefbuch), and wrote a prologue, to form one book he referred to as The Exemplar.[9]
There are also various sermons attributed to Suso, although only two appear to be authentic.[9] A treatise known as the Minnebüchlein (Little Book of Love) is sometimes, but probably incorrectly, attributed to Suso.[9]
Suso was very widely read in the later Middle Ages. There are 232 extant manuscripts of the Middle High German Little Book of Eternal Wisdom.[10] The Latin Clock of Wisdom was even more popular: over four hundred manuscripts in Latin, and over two hundred manuscripts in various medieval translations (it was translated into eight languages, including Dutch, French, Italian, Swedish, Czech, and English).[11] Many early printings survive as well. The Clock was therefore second only to the Imitation of Christ in popularity among spiritual writings of the later Middle Ages.[12] Among his many readers and admirers were Thomas à Kempis and John Fisher.[13]
Wolfgang Wackernagel and others have called Suso a "
Legacy and veneration
In the world Suso was esteemed as a preacher, and was heard in the cities and towns of Swabia, Switzerland, Alsace, and the Netherlands. His apostolate, however, was not with the masses, but rather with individuals of all classes who were drawn to him by his singularly attractive personality, and to whom he became a personal director in the spiritual life.
Suso was reported to have established among the Friends of God a society which he called the Brotherhood of the Eternal Wisdom. The so-called Rule of the Brotherhood of the Eternal Wisdom is but a free translation of a chapter of his Horologium Sapientiae and did not make its appearance until the fifteenth century.
Suso was
The words of the Christmas song "In dulci jubilo" are attributed to Suso.[16]
Editions and translations
The Exemplar (Middle High German):
- Henry Suso, Das Buch von dem Diener (The Life of the Servant), ed. K. Bihlmeyer, Heinrich Seuse. Deutsche Schriften, 1907
(translated by Frank Tobin, in The Exemplar, with Two German Sermons, New York: Paulist Press, 1989, pp. 61–204)
- Das Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit (The Little Book of Eternal Wisdom), ed. K. Bihlmeyer, ibid.
(trans. in F. Tobin, ibid., pp. 204–304)
- Das Büchlein der Wahrheit (The Little Book of Truth), ed. K. Bihlmeyer, ibid.
(trans. in F. Tobin, ibid., pp. 305–332)
- Das Briefbüchlein (The Little Book of Letters), ed. K. Bihlmeyer, ibid., pp. 360–393
(trans. in F. Tobin, ibid., pp. 333–360)
- "The exemplary life and writings of Blessed Henry Suso, Complete ed. based on manuscripts, with a critical introd. & explanatory notes by Nicholas Heller
(translated from the German by Sister M. Ann Edward (Sister Mary of the Immaculate Heart). 2 v. (c) Priory Press; 15 Apr 1962)[17]
- Exemplar, A complete and illustrated (bilingual) Dutch translation. Seusewerken.freens.eu
(translated from the Middle High German by Peter Freens; with illustrations by Anna Ruiters).
Preaching and Letters (Middle High German):
- Henry Suso, The Great Book of Letters, ed. K. Bihlmeyer, Heinrich Seuse. Deutsche Schriften, 1907, pp. 405–494
- Sermons 1 and 4 (those now recognized as authentic) are published in English translation in The Exemplar, with Two German Sermons
(trans. F. Tobin, (New York: Paulist Press, 1989), pp. 361–376)
Latin:
- Henry Suso, Horologium sapientiae (Clock of Wisdom), ed. P. Künzle, Heinrich Seuses Horologium sapientiae, Freiburg: Universitatsverlag, 1977
(translated by Edmund Colledge, Wisdom's Watch upon the Hours,
- Heinrich Seuse, De Klok van de Wijsheid (Horologium Sapientiae). A complete (bilingual) Dutch translation (translated from the Medieval Latin by Peter Freens, 2023). SeuseWerken.freens.eu
Memory
Croatian writer Sida Košutić wrote novel in a form of hagiography devoted to him, Sluga Vječne Mudrosti ("Servant of Eternal Wisdom", 1930), in which she depicts him as a Servant, Poet and the Sufferer.[18]
References
- ^ "Heinrich Seuse - Ökumenisches Heiligenlexikon". www.heiligenlexikon.de (in German). Retrieved 2022-08-21.
- ISBN 9789004183476. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
- ^ Bernard McGinn, The Harvest of Mysticism, (2005), p. 197.
- ^ Barbara Newman, God and the Goddesses (2003), pp. 12–14
- ^ Rozenski, Steven. Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception Online. Berlin: De Gruyter. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
- S2CID 192205877. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f Bernard McGinn, The Harvest of Mysticism, (2005), p. 198.
- ^ http://www.philosophy Archived 2013-08-10 at the Wayback Machine, r. o. (2004). "Internal Suffering and Christianity." available from "Internal Suffering and Christianity". Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-06-08.
- ^ a b c Bernard McGinn, The Harvest of Mysticism, (2005), p. 204.
- ^ "Gesamtverzeichnis Autoren/Werke Seuse, Heinrich: 'Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit'". Handschriftencensus Eine Bestandsaufnahme der handschriftlichen Überlieferung deutschsprachiger Texte des Mittelalters. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
- ISBN 978-0-268-20275-0. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
- ^ Bernard McGinn, The Harvest of Mysticism, (2005), pp. 199, 201
- ^ Debongnie, Pierre (1940). "Henri Suso et l'Imitation de Jesus-Christ". Revue d'Ascétique et de Mystique. 21: 242–68.
- JSTOR 20722446
- ^ McMahon 1913.
- ^ "In Dulci Jubilo – Notes On The Carol". www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
- ^ Catalog of Copyright Entries, Third Series: Books and Pamphlets, Vol 16 Part 1 No 1, Jan–June 1962, p. 756; Library of Congress, Washington DC; 1963
- ^ Katinić Pleić, M. (2023) Kako je Sida Košutić izrekla neizrecivo? [How Sida Košutić spoke the unspeakable?]. Glas Koncila, LXII (2544), 21-21.
Attribution:
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: McMahon, Arthur Lawrence (1913). "Bl. Henry Suso". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 162–163.
Further reading
English:
- van Aelst, José (2013). "Visualizing the Spiritual: Images in the Life and Teachings of Henry Suso (c. 1295-1366)". In de Hemptinne, Thérèse; Fraeters, Veerle; Góngora, María Eugenia (eds.). Speaking to the Eye: Sight and Insight through Text and Image (1150–1650). Brepols.
- Bryda, Gregory (2023). The Trees of the Cross: Wood as Subject and Medium in Late Medieval Germany. Yale University Press, pp. 52–87.
- Haas, Alois (1994). "Reading Henry Suso". Listening. 29: 199–215.
- Hamburger, Jeffrey (1998). The Visual and the Visionary: Art and Female Spirituality in Late Medieval Germany.
- James, Sarah (2012). "Rereading Henry Suso and Eucharistic Theology in Fifteenth-Century England". The Review of English Studies. 63 (262): 732–42. .
- Kieckhefer, Richard (1984). Unquiet Souls: Fourteenth-Century Saints and Their Religious Milieu, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
- McGinn, Bernard (2005). The Harvest of Mysticism, pp. 191–239.
- Newman, Barbara (2003). God and the Goddesses: Vision, Poetry, and Belief in the Middle Ages. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0812202915.
- Rozenski, Steven (2010). "Henry Suso's Horologium Sapientiae in fifteenth-century France: images of reading and writing in Brussels Royal Library MS IV 111". Word & Image. 26 (4): 364–80. S2CID 192205877.
- Schultze, Dirk (2005). The Seven Points of True Love and Everlasting Wisdom: A Middle English Translation of Henry Suso's Horologium Sapientiae, Edited from Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, Brogyntyn II.5.
- Williams-Krapp, Werner (2004). "Henry Suso's Vita between Mystagogy and Hagiography". In Mulder-Bakker, Anneke (ed.). Seeing and Knowing: Women and Learning in Medieval Europe, 1200-1550. Brepols. pp. 35–48.
German:
- Filthaut, E.M., ed. (1966). Seuse-Studien: Heinrich Seuse. Studien zum 600. Todestag, 1366-1966, Cologne: Albertus Magnus Verlag
- Haas, Alois. (1971). Nim din selbes war. Studien zur Lehre von der Selbsterkenntnis bei Meister Eckhart, Johannes Tauler und Heinrich Seuse, Freiburg: Universitatsverlag.
- Keller, Hildegard Elisabeth and Hamburger, Jeffrey, eds. (2011). Die Stunde des Hundes – after Henry Suso's Exemplar.
- Largier, Niklaus (1999). "Der Körper der Schrift: Bild und Text am Beispiel einer Seuse-Handschrift des 15. Jahrhunderts". Mittelalter. Neue Wege Durch einen Alten Kontinent: 241–71.
Italian:
- Digitized manuscript (ca. 1500–25) of the Horologio di sapienza (an Italian translation of the Horologium Sapientiae): Digitized codex at Somni.
External links
- Quotations related to Henry Suso at Wikiquote
- Media related to Henry Suso at Wikimedia Commons
- Henry Suso at Patron Saints Index
- Henry Suso at Christian Classics Ethereal Library
- OPVS Research Group Summary of current work on Suso