Based on the example of Matt Talbot, countless recovering alcoholics/addicts now live
God’s way of life instead of their former self-indulgent way.
From Dublin Drunk to
Servant of God
by Mike McCormack
June 17, 2014
Ancient Order of Hibernians
In June the world celebrates Bloomsday, a day in the life of
James Joyce’s fictional character – Leopold Bloom, as he walks the back streets
of Dublin. Some seem to know why, but most do it for the craic (merriment) – an
exercise in self indulgence. Incredible as it may seem, in 1856, a man was born
into those very same dirty Dublin streets who deserves more to be honored and
revered than all the characters in Joyce’s book; more than even Joyce himself.
His name was Matthew Talbot. One of 12 children he was reared in absolute
poverty in north central Dublin at a time when there were no social services,
and even water was fetched from public horse troughs. Semi-educated by the
Christian Brothers who put him in a class for poor boys not likely to attend
school for long, they were right for his schooling ended as soon as he found a
job. A 12-year-old illiterate is lucky to find work at all, but young Matt
took a job as a messenger for a wine and beer bottling company. He soon learned
it was easy to help himself to a drink whenever he wanted, and by age 13,
Matthew Talbot was a confirmed alcoholic!
He earned a reputation as a hard worker, and for the next 15 years went from dock worker to brick layer and through it all he never stopped drinking. Alcohol claimed most of his wages, and he resorted to stealing and pawning to support his addiction. Then in 1884, Matt stayed away from work for an entire week, drinking heavily. Penniless and in debt to the local Pubs, he waited for his friends after work; surely they would buy him a drink as he had bought them many times before. But they didn’t want to know him. He found himself physically, mentally, and spiritually bankrupt. He went home sober for the first time in years. He reflected on his life and concluded that it was out of control because of drink. He remembered his early religious teaching and a Pledge of Sobriety offered by the Temperance preacher, Father Theobold Matthew, some years before; he decided to attempt it for three months to regain control of his life. It was a battle he was not ready for. The terrifying withdrawal symptoms of Alcoholism were not understood in those days, and Matt battled nausea, hallucination, and depression. Lost for a place to spend his non-working hours, he turned to the Church. It was the beginning of an intimacy that would last his entire life. He attended daily Mass and communion before work. When his parish changed its first Mass from 5 A.M. to 6:30, he quit his job and got a new one so that he could still start his day with a Mass. With great effort, he completed three months of sobriety. He immediately renewed the pledge for six more months, and then renewed it for life.
His willingness to work hard, assured him of work when there wasn’t much around. His spare time was spent in church or religious reading. The heavy drinking of his father and brothers showed him a side of drink he had never seen, and he left home to live alone in a one-room flat. When work and church were done for the day, Matt would retire to his room to read and pray. His sister Susan recalled that in his free time he was never off his knees. Though privately he was a very serious and penitent person, at work he was pleasant and outgoing. Co-workers remember him as a conscientious, strong, yet gentle man who smiled at everything except a dirty joke.
His work habits earned him above-average wages, which he gave away to his poor neighbors and to charities as far away as Father Drumgoole’s Catholic Orphanage in New York. He kept only 50 pence a week for his needs were few. As history was being recorded around him, Matt Talbot prayed for his fellow man. During the violent Tramworkers Strike of 1913, he shared his wages with the families of the men on strike, and during the Easter Rising of 1916, he made his way through the bombs, bullets and barricades to attend daily Mass.
In 1920, at age 67, he was hospitalized with a heart condition. Placed on light work through the intercession of friends, he continued to work, sharing his wages until June 7, 1925. While on his way to Mass, Matt Talbot suffered a massive heart attack and died on a Dublin street. At the hospital, while undressing his body, attendants found a heavy chain wrapped around his waist, another around his arm, and yet another around his leg; he had worn them beneath his clothes as a constant reminder that he was a slave to Jesus and Mary. This remarkable discovery prompted an inquiry which disclosed his secret life of devotion, penance, and charity. His room contained no more than the bare necessities of a monastic cell – an iron bed, a slab of wood for a mattress and pillow, covered with a half-blanket, a chair, a table and a crucifix. His meals consisted of dry bread and cold tea or cocoa taken three times a day, with some cold fish added for dinner; he spent his leisure time in prayer and study. Had he died at home, he probably would have remained unknown. Instead, the one-time hard-drinking Dublin dock walloper became an inspiration to those who think they can’t make it alone or are too weak to turn their backs on earthly pleasures.
Today, there is a Matt Talbot Movement, under the direction of the Redemptorists, which consists of more than 160 retreat groups of more than 144,000 people in Ireland, America, and Canada. And the source of that inspiration is Matt Talbot, a Dublin drunk who grew up in Leopold Bloom’s Dublin and was declared Venerable by his Church in 1973 because he saw God’s way of life instead of the self indulgent way.
He earned a reputation as a hard worker, and for the next 15 years went from dock worker to brick layer and through it all he never stopped drinking. Alcohol claimed most of his wages, and he resorted to stealing and pawning to support his addiction. Then in 1884, Matt stayed away from work for an entire week, drinking heavily. Penniless and in debt to the local Pubs, he waited for his friends after work; surely they would buy him a drink as he had bought them many times before. But they didn’t want to know him. He found himself physically, mentally, and spiritually bankrupt. He went home sober for the first time in years. He reflected on his life and concluded that it was out of control because of drink. He remembered his early religious teaching and a Pledge of Sobriety offered by the Temperance preacher, Father Theobold Matthew, some years before; he decided to attempt it for three months to regain control of his life. It was a battle he was not ready for. The terrifying withdrawal symptoms of Alcoholism were not understood in those days, and Matt battled nausea, hallucination, and depression. Lost for a place to spend his non-working hours, he turned to the Church. It was the beginning of an intimacy that would last his entire life. He attended daily Mass and communion before work. When his parish changed its first Mass from 5 A.M. to 6:30, he quit his job and got a new one so that he could still start his day with a Mass. With great effort, he completed three months of sobriety. He immediately renewed the pledge for six more months, and then renewed it for life.
His willingness to work hard, assured him of work when there wasn’t much around. His spare time was spent in church or religious reading. The heavy drinking of his father and brothers showed him a side of drink he had never seen, and he left home to live alone in a one-room flat. When work and church were done for the day, Matt would retire to his room to read and pray. His sister Susan recalled that in his free time he was never off his knees. Though privately he was a very serious and penitent person, at work he was pleasant and outgoing. Co-workers remember him as a conscientious, strong, yet gentle man who smiled at everything except a dirty joke.
His work habits earned him above-average wages, which he gave away to his poor neighbors and to charities as far away as Father Drumgoole’s Catholic Orphanage in New York. He kept only 50 pence a week for his needs were few. As history was being recorded around him, Matt Talbot prayed for his fellow man. During the violent Tramworkers Strike of 1913, he shared his wages with the families of the men on strike, and during the Easter Rising of 1916, he made his way through the bombs, bullets and barricades to attend daily Mass.
In 1920, at age 67, he was hospitalized with a heart condition. Placed on light work through the intercession of friends, he continued to work, sharing his wages until June 7, 1925. While on his way to Mass, Matt Talbot suffered a massive heart attack and died on a Dublin street. At the hospital, while undressing his body, attendants found a heavy chain wrapped around his waist, another around his arm, and yet another around his leg; he had worn them beneath his clothes as a constant reminder that he was a slave to Jesus and Mary. This remarkable discovery prompted an inquiry which disclosed his secret life of devotion, penance, and charity. His room contained no more than the bare necessities of a monastic cell – an iron bed, a slab of wood for a mattress and pillow, covered with a half-blanket, a chair, a table and a crucifix. His meals consisted of dry bread and cold tea or cocoa taken three times a day, with some cold fish added for dinner; he spent his leisure time in prayer and study. Had he died at home, he probably would have remained unknown. Instead, the one-time hard-drinking Dublin dock walloper became an inspiration to those who think they can’t make it alone or are too weak to turn their backs on earthly pleasures.
Today, there is a Matt Talbot Movement, under the direction of the Redemptorists, which consists of more than 160 retreat groups of more than 144,000 people in Ireland, America, and Canada. And the source of that inspiration is Matt Talbot, a Dublin drunk who grew up in Leopold Bloom’s Dublin and was declared Venerable by his Church in 1973 because he saw God’s way of life instead of the self indulgent way.