RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Sudaili Suicerus
Matt. v. 10-12, x. 38, xvi. 24). To practise asceticism and inflict pain on oneself is not only unnecessary but antagonistic to God (Col. ii. 23). The task of the Christian is rather to bear patiently the sufferings actually sent by God and make them a means of righteousness (Heb. xii. 11; II Cor. iv. 16) . For the real Christian all trials and tribulations contribute to the attainment of the highest good (Rom. viii. 26). Of course suffering may have just the opposite result, in case of a weak Christian (Matt. xiii. 21). It is the moral obligation of the Christian to take effective action against threatening reverses, and his position in the world makes this necessary. Stupid resignation is as unchristian as rank fatalism.
Pain and suffering are the means appointed by God to wean the Christian from the pleasures of the world and the flesh and bind him close to the kingdom of God. Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and if he sends afflictions he sends at the same time strength to bear them or overcome them (II Cor. i. 3-8, iv. 8-9) . God may send sufferings and tribulations to punish offenders (Ps. xxxviii. 5; Lam. i. 14; Ex. xx. 5), to prove and educate his children (Heb. xii. 5-12; II Cor. xiii. 5), or to glorify himself (John ix. 3, xi. 4). (L. Lemme.)
Bibliography: E. Burritt, The Mission of Great Sufferings, London, 1866; W. G. Eliot, The Discipline of Sorrow V Boston, 1868; E. de Pressense, The Mystery of Suffering, New York, 1869; J. Hinton, The Mystery of Pain, Boston, 1893; C. C. Hall, Does God send Trouble f ib., 1894; D. 0. Mears, Inspired through Suffering, New York, 1897; V. C. Harrington, The Problem of Human Suffering . . from the Standpoint of a Christian, ib. 1899; G. Miiller, Das Leidalsdie Wurzel des Gliickes, Berlin, 1899; J. H. Brookes, The Mystery of Suffering, New York, 1903; J. Hinton, The Mystery of Pain, London, 1909; Pere Laurent, The Mission of Pain, ib. 1910.
SUFFRAGAN: A title applied to certain classes of bishops (see Bishop; Bishop, Titular; and Vicar). The word does not appear to have been employed in classical Latin, but is frequent in the ecclesiastical language of the Frankish kingdom {MGH, Leg. i., Cap. reg. Francorum, p. 79, 1835), where it appears in the sense of " helper," and so, e.g., Amalarius of Treves (q.v.) understands it. The term becomes equivalent also to " vicar." The term " suffragan " is applied to titular bishops who assist or substitute for diocesan bishops; also to diocesan bishops, expressing their relation to the metropolitan [cf. Bingham, Origines, II., xiv. 14-15]. The ordinances bearing on the relative rights of suffragans and metropolitans are collected in Gratian, causa III., qu. 6 and IX. 3. For suffragans in the United States see Protestant Episcopalians, II., § 1. (A. Hauck.)
SUGER: Abbot of St. Denis; b. in 1081, probably in the neighborhood of St. Omer; d. at St. Denis Jan. 12, 1151. He was the contemporary of St. Bernard and Abelard, and one of the greatest statesmen France produced during the Middle Ages. He was educated in the monastery of St. Denis, together with Louis VI.; and when the latter ascended the throne, in 1108, he immediately called the monk to his court, and made him his principal councilor. In 1122 Suger was elected abbot of St. Denis; but he remained at the court, and continued
to live as a man of the world till 1127, when he came under the influence of the reformatory movement of his time. He at once assumed the habits and practises of severe asceticism, but he continued to be a politician rather than an ecclesiastic. After the death of Louis VI., in 1137, he was appointed regent during the minority of Louis VII., and again when the latter, in 1149, made a crusade to the Holy Land; and during his lifetime hardly anything of consequence took place in French politics without his immediate intervention. His leading idea was the consolidation of the monarchy as a divinely established institution. He was planning and preparing to conduct in person a crusade when he died. His writings embrace Libellus de consecratione ecclesice a se cedificatce et translatione corporum s. Dionysii ac sociorum eius facta anno llJfi; Liber de rebus in sua administratione gestis; and Vita Ludovici VI. Grossi sive Crassi regis Francorum (t 1187), Philippi I. filii; all of which are found most conveniently in MPL, clxxxvi. 1211-1340. They were also edited by A. Lecoy de la Marche, Paris, 1867.
Bibliography: The early life by the monk and associate W. Suger is in MPL, clxxxvi. 1193-1208, and in the ed. of the "Works " by Lecoy de la Marche, ut sup., pp. 377- 411. Consult further: J. Baudouin, Le Ministre fidele, repre'sente sous Louis VI. en la personne de Suger, Paris, 1640; M. Baudier, Hist, de V "administratis n de Suger, abbe" de St. Denys, Paris, 1645, new ed., 1660; F. A. Gervaise, Hist, de Suger, ahte de St. Denis, 3 vols., Paris, 1721; A. Nettement, Hist, de Suger, Paris, 1842; A. de Saint-Mery, Suger, ou le France au xii. siecle, Limoges, 1851; F. Combes, V Abbe Suger, Paris, 1853; A. Huguenin, Etude sur Vabbe Suger, Paris, 1855; L. de Came, Les Fondateurs de Vunite francaise: Suger, Paris, 1856; J. L. T. Bachelet, Les Grands Ministres fran^ais, Rouen, 1859; A. Vetault, Suger, Paris, 1871; P. Viollet, in Bibliotheque de Vecole des chartes, xxxiv. 241-254, Paris, 1873; E. Menault, Suger regent de France, pere de la patrie,
Paris, 1884; A. Lecoy de la Marche, in La France chretienne, 1896, pp. 148 sqq; Hist, litteraire de la France, xii. 361-362; KL, xi. 975-977; Ceillier, Auteurs sacrhs, xiv. 373-376 et passim.
SUICERUS, swi'ser-us, JOHANNES CASPARUS (HANS KASPAR SCHWEITZER): Philologist, author of the Thesaurus ecclesiasticus; b. at Zurich June 26, 1620; d. there Dec. 29, 1684. He began his studies in the schools of his native city, and completed them at Montauban and Saumur, returning in 1643 to Zurich for his examination, and being sent as pastor to Basadingen in Thurgau; he was called to teach in Zurich, 1644; became inspector of the Alumnates and professor of Hebrew, 1646; professor of catechetics, 1649; of Latin and Greek in the Collegium humanitatis, 1656; and of Greek at the Carolinum, 1660; retired on account of failing health, 1683. He served theology well through his works in philology, many of them going through several editions. Among his published works may be named: Sylloge vocum Novi Testamenti (Zurich, 1648); Novi Testamenti dictionum sylloge Grceco- Latina, issued by Hagenbuch in 1744 as N. T Glossarium Grceco-Latinum; the celebrated Thesaurus ecclesiasticus (2 vols., Amsterdam, 1682; encyclopedic) ; and Lexicon Grceco-Latinum et Latino-Grwcum (1683). He left other works in manuscript, among them his apparatus for a new edition of the lexicon of Hesychius. (P Schweizer.)
Suicerus Suidbert