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.
Career 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 outcome is not entirely clear. At some point between 1329 and 1334 he was removed from his lectorship in Constance, though he was not personally condemned. ==Writings==