Bl. Henry Suso

Henry Suso was born in southern Germany around 1295 and took his mother's family name, Seuse. At thirteen he entered the Dominican convent at Constance. After five careless years, at eighteen he gave himself completely to God and called himself "the Servant of the Eternal Wisdom", meaning Christ.

From 1324 to 1327 he studied in Cologne under the famous mystic Meister Eckhart. Suso became one of the "Rhineland mystics", Dominican teachers of prayer and inner union with God. He wrote the Little Book of Eternal Wisdom and other works that were widely read. He preached, guided communities of nuns, and in later years served as a prior.

He died at Ulm in 1366.

The Catholic Encyclopedia says he bore illness, bitter persecution and slander with rare patience. In youth he practised harsh penances, which he moderated as he grew older.

Henry Suso was beatified in 1831.

Beatification allows public veneration, usually in a particular region or religious family. Canonization extends it to the whole Church.