Suso, Hkinkich, a Mystic, was born Jlarch 21, 1300, at Constance. His real name was Von Berg ; but, having been greatly influenced by the tender piety of his mother, he assumed her name when her death, in his eighteenth year, caused him to seek satisfaction for his soul in inward peace. He had been a student at Constance and Cologne, and now was strongly influ- enced by Master Eckart; but imagination and feeling were more powerful with him than the speculative fac- ulty. His mysticism required a concrete form in which to clothe the idea, and such he found in the " wisdom" of the writings of Solomon. Identifying this "eternal wisdom" now with Christ and again with the Blessed Virgin, he expended upon it his love and the devotion of his life. He graved upon his breast, with an iron pencil, the name of Jesus. Having returned to the Convent of Constance, he gave himself to solitary mor- tifications, and had many visions. While there he also wrote his (German) book On the Eternal Wisdom, in 1338, which was designed to teach pious souls how to imitate Christ in his sufferings. Having reached the age of forty years, he concluded his penances and be- came a preacher, or, as he phrased it, "a knight of God," and his labors were largely beneticial to the com- munity. He entered into relations with other mystical teachers, especially Tauler and Heinrich von Niirdling- en. He induced many noble ladies to devote them- selves to a quiet and charitable life, aided in the forma- tion of organizations of the Friends of (iod (q. v.), and founded a Brotherhood of the Eternal Wisdom, for which he composed a rule and a number of prayers. These labors exposed him to criticism and even dan- gers. He was even accused of disseminating the heret- ical teachings of the Brothers of the Free Spirit ((j. v.). In his latter daj's he was cliosen prior of his convent. Soon afterwards he related the history of his inner and outer life to his friend the nun Elizabeth Stiiglin, and she wrote the narrative without his knowledge; but it was subsequently revised and completed by his hand, and received into the collection of his works as part first. Part second was the book of Eternal Wisdom; part third, his book of Truth, like the other in dialogue form, and intended to satisfy the inquiries of a disciple of the truth. The conclusion consists of several mis- cellaneous letters. Suso died Jan. 25, 1365, in the Do- minican convent at Ulm. His writings evince no con- nected system. His matter is generally borrowed, and only the imaginative, romantic style is pecidiar to him. His fundamental idea is that of Eckart, that being forms the highest conception, and that being is God. All cre- ated being is a mirror of God, and to recognise God in this mirror is to speculate. No name can exhaust the idea of God. He is equally " an eternal nothing" and the "most essential something;" he is a "ring whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is no- where." To gaze upon God is the highest joy. Creat- ures are eternal in God as their " Exemplar," and they have no distinguishing qualities until after their "out- flow" from God, when they have entered into the creat- ure state. The\' all have the yearning to return into their original and restore the interrupted unity. Simi- lar is Suso's representation of the Trinitj'. The Son is the Eternal Word which proceeds from the Father; the love which reunites them is the Holy Spirit. The sin- stained human soul can find no other way to God than Christ, and more particularly than the imitation of his sufferings. The distinction between Creator and creat-
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ure never ceases, however; so that, despite his mystical spirit, Suso does not cross tlie line wliere the pantheistic blending of the created and the Eternal Spirit begins. Suso was, in brief, the representative of poetic mysticism — a real i)iiet, who is unabh' to ap|)reliend an idea with- out clothing it in syml)(>Hc form ; and he was in no true sense either a philosopher or a practical man of af- fairs. Suso's writings apiieared at Augsburg, 1482 and 1512, fol. Diepenbrock published them in laid at Kat- isbon ("id cd. 1838) ; in Latin, by Surius (q. v.), 1555 and often. From tlie Latin they were rendered into French and Italian, and even into (icrman again. A book, \'oii di'ii neuii Fe/seii {Of the Nine I^ocks), which was long attributed to Suso, was written in 1392 by the Strasburger Kulraaii Merswin. — llerzog, Real-Encyklup. s. V.
Suspension, an ecclesiastical act of two kinds: 1. One of the several sorts of punishment inflicted upon of- fending members of the clergy. This relates either to the revenues of the clergyman or to his office, and hence is called siispeiisio a henejuio and siispensit) ub officio. Sus- pension from benefice deprives the offender of the whole or a part of his revenue. Suspension from office is vari- ous : ah ordine, where a clerk cannot exercise his minis- try at all ; iib officio, where he is forbidden to exercise it in his charge or cure. In all these cases the incumbent retains his order, rank, and benefice in distinction to the penalties of solemn deposal and degradation, by which he forfeits all rights of his order and benefice. All per- sons wtio can excommunicate can suspend. Suspension must be preceded by a monition, and its cause must be stated in the formal act: '-Forasmuch as you have been proved to have committed such and such things, there- fore we suspend you from tlie office and execution of your orders." Every act of jurisdiction, such as absolu- tion, is null and void during suspension, if it has been l)ublicly announced; but the ministration of baptism or communion is valid. Suspension is removed by abso- lution, by revocation of the sentence, by expiration of its time, and b\' dispensation. 2. The other sort of sus- pension, which extends also to the laity, is suspension from entering a consecrated building, church, or chapel, or from hearing divine service, "commonly called mass," and from receiving the holy sacrament; which, there- fore, may be called a temporary excommunication. See Andre, Du Droit. Canonique, i, 943; ii, 1110; Maillane, Dii Divit Canonique, v, 352 ; Blunt, IHcf. of Doctrinal Theolofjtj, s. V. ; Kiddle, Christ. Antiq. p. 342.