Герман доминикан монахы және жазушысы Генрих Сузо

German Dominican friar and writer

Henry Suso, OP (also called Amandus, a name adopted in his writings, and Heinrich Seuse or Heinrich von Berg in German; 21 March 1295 – 25 January 1366) was a German Dominican friar and the most popular vernacular writer of the fourteenth century (when considering the number of surviving manuscripts). Suso is thought to have been born on 21 March 1295. An important author in both Latin and Middle High German, he is also notable for defending Meister Eckhart's legacy after Eckhart was posthumously condemned for heresy in 1329. He died in Ulm on 25 January 1366, and was beatified by the Catholic Church in 1831.

Suso was born Heinrich von Berg, a member of the ruling family of Berg. He was born in either the free imperial city of Überlingen on Lake Constance or nearby Constance, on 21 March 1295 (or perhaps on that date up to 1297–99). Later, out of humility and devotion to his mother, he took her family name, which was Sus (or Süs, meaning "sweet"). At 13 years of age he was admitted to the novitiate of the Dominican Order at their priory in Constance. After completing that year of probation, he advanced to do his preparatory, philosophical, and theological studies there. 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 religious life through the intervention of Divine Wisdom. He made himself "the Servant of Eternal Wisdom", which he identified with the divine essence and, in more specific terms, with divine Eternal Wisdom made man in Christ. From this point forward in his account of his spiritual life, a burning love for Eternal Wisdom dominated his thoughts and controlled his actions; his spiritual journey culminated in a mystical marriage to Christ in the form of the Eternal Wisdom, an allegorical Goddess in the Hebrew Bible associated with Christ in medieval devotion.

Suso was then sent on for further studies in philosophy and theology, probably first at the Dominican monastery in Strasbourg, perhaps between 1319 and 1321, and then from 1324 to 1327 he took a supplementary course in theology in the Dominican Studium Generale in Cologne, where he would have come into contact with Meister Eckhart, and probably also Johannes Tauler, both celebrated mystics. 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 General Chapter held at Maastricht in 1330 to defend himself. The consequence is not entirely known – at some point between 1329 and 1334 he was removed from his lectorship in Constance, though he was not personally condemned.

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. There are also various sermons attributed to Suso, although only two appear to be authentic. 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). 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. Among his many readers and admirers were Thomas à Kempis and John Fisher. Wolfgang Wackernagel and others have called Suso a "Minnesinger in prose and in the spiritual order" or a "Minnesinger of the Love of God" both for his use of images and themes from secular, courtly, romantic poetry and for his rich musical vocabulary. The mutual love of God and man which is his principal theme gives warmth and color to his style. He used the full and flexible Alemannic idiom with rare skill, and contributed much to the formation of good German prose, especially by giving new shades of meaning to words employed to describe inner sensations.

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 beatified in 1831 by Pope Gregory XVI, who assigned 2 March as his feast day, celebrated within the Dominican Order. The Dominicans now celebrate his feast on 23 January, the feria, or "free" day, nearest the day of his death. The words of the Christmas song "In dulci jubilo" are attributed to Suso.

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.