Monday, April 24, 2017

Visiting Matt Talbot’s Shrine in Dublin

The following is one visitor’s reaction to visiting Matt Talbot’s Shrine in  March 2016.
 
Matt Talbot Shrine -- an inner city surprise
Reviewed June 13, 2016
 
“Matt Talbot had a drinking problem in whiskey-loving Dublin, and so did his brothers. His life was going nowhere. He still lived with his mother. Nobody really knew him, except for the latter part of his life, when he seemed to stay clear of the drink, and tried to get others to do the same. But when he dropped dead on a Dublin street in 1925, and his body was found to have chains and cords wrapped tightly around his waist and arms, the entire city took notice.

Get the rest of the story from the internet. But if you know of someone with a drinking problem, and you know the power of prayer, stop into this church, visit the glass-covered tomb of this saint-in-process, and light a candle.

Make sure you realize that this shrine is actually the left-hand chapel inside of Our Lady of Lourdes church. The right-hand side is another grotto-style depiction of our Lady of Lourdes (now THERE is another great place to visit, in Lourdes, France!) There is some history written on the walls (eg. explaining the story of a certain rather small statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus). I just found that sitting down to spend some quiet time after the bustle of Dublin's O'Connell street was great!

On my particular visit, I happened to stumble upon a 3:00 p.m. recitation (to video and music) of the Divine Mercy chaplet, which it appears is said daily, in addition to regular church services.”