We greatly appreciate those who spread the word
about Venerable Matt Talbot. Yet, at times, one might be somewhat surprised by the
geographical location of the writer and most likely readers.
Such might be the case with this article for those living in the U.S. state of Utah, where less than 10 percent of the state’s
population are Roman Catholics and the overwhelming religious body is The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Based on “The Word
of Wisdom,” a health code Joseph Smith promulgated in 1833, Mormons are to
abstain from tobacco, alcoholic beverages, tea and coffee and general physical
and spiritual fitness is encouraged.
A patron saint for those suffering from alcoholism?
By Msgr. M.
Francis Mannion*
The name of Matt Talbot is not well
known outside of Ireland, but Talbot will likely be canonized in the
not-too-distant future and become the patron saint of alcoholics. He was
declared Venerable by Pope Paul VI in 1975.
Matt Talbot was born in humble
circumstances in Dublin in May 1856. At that time, Ireland was recovering from
the devastating famine of the mid-1840s. This was an era of grinding poverty and
appalling living conditions, especially in the larger cities.
Heavy drinking and alcoholism were
very severe problems in those years, and a deep-seated feature of Dublin life.
Talbot’s father and older brothers were heavy drinkers. Alcohol provided one of
the few means of escape from the harsh conditions of Dublin life, and it brought
with it all the miseries of broken families and unfulfilled hopes.
From his early years up to the age of
24, Matt Talbot was a very heavy drinker, and clearly an alcoholic. This was a
source of great distress to his mother. His paycheck each week went primarily
for alcohol. He frequented pubs every night, and when he ran out of money, he
borrowed and scrounged among his fellow drinkers. To sustain his habit, he
pawned his clothes and boots to get money for alcohol. On one occasion, he stole
a violin from a street musician and sold it to buy drink. Most of his jobs in
that early period were deliberately with liquor merchants, where he had easy
access to alcohol.
In 1884, however, Talbot stopped
drinking and made a three-month pledge to refrain from alcohol. Having been
successful in that attempt, he made a year-long and then a life-long pledge.
Despite great temptations, he never took a drink again. For the rest of his
life, however, abstinence was for him a fierce spiritual and psychological
struggle.
The remaining 41 years were lived
heroically with Matt attending daily Mass, praying fervently, helping the poor,
and living out a strict spiritual life. He modeled himself on the early Irish
monks, whose lives were extremely severe. He constantly read Scripture, the
lives of the saints, the writings of St. Francis de Sales, and works like the
Confessions of St. Augustine. His spiritual director was a priest at the
diocesan seminary, who gave him a chain to wear permanently around his waist as
a sign of penance.
Talbot dropped dead of a heart attack
on a Dublin street on Trinity Sunday, June 7, 1925 on his way to Mass, and he
was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.
News of Talbot’s death, of his severe
penitential life, the discovery of the chains he wore, and, not least, his
triumph over alcohol spread rapidly among Dublin Catholics. He was popularly
hailed as a saint.
Within a few years of his death,
Talbot was regarded as a patron and protector of those suffering from
alcoholism. In 1972, his remains were exhumed and taken to Dublin’s Our Lady of
Lourdes Church, in the area where Matt had spent his life. Every day pilgrims
came to pray at his tomb, and organized pilgrimages from all over Ireland became
frequent.
Since then, devotion to Talbot has
spread among alcoholics and their families beyond Ireland, and many devotees
look forward to his canonization.
Not a lot has been published about
Matt Talbot. Two of the books I would recommend are: Eddie Doherty, Matt
Talbot (Combermere, Ontario: Madonna House Publications, 2001); and Tom
Ryan, Comfort My People: Prayers and Reflections Inspired by the Venerable
Matt Talbot (Dublin: Veritas, 2001).
*Msgr. Mannion is pastor emeritus of St. Vincent
de Paul parish in Salt Lake City. He holds a Ph.D in sacramental theology from
The Catholic University of America. He was founding president of The Society for
Catholic Liturgy in 1995 and the founding editor of the Societys journal,
Antiphon. At the invitation of Cardinal Francis George of Chicago he founded the
Mundelein Liturgical Institute in 2000.