Dublin Street Art Image of Matt Talbot

Mags Gargan, Features Editor with The Irish Catholic, tweeted (2 Jan 2016), “Lovely to see Matt Talbot commemorated in Dublin street art.”
https://twitter.com/MagsGarganIC/status/683281189843660801

 

Lives Transformed

Bob Hunt, a pediatric Registered Nurse, Catholic faith instructor, and author, has written a series of articles on “Evidence for the Existence of God from Experience” for Catholic365.com. The quotation and link below are from Part 5.

 

Lives Transformed

By Bob Hunt
12/15/2015

 

“The greatest testimony to the presence and power of God and His Holy Spirit is the transformation of lives from wantonness and misdirection to virtue and meaning. The encounter with God that many have experienced may prove nothing more than an interesting passing moment unless it impacts one’s life. While this may not always be a dramatic turn, there are those examples of men and women whose lives have been genuinely transformed, even to the point of being unrecognizable from what it was before.”

To illustrate his point Bob presents five biographical sketches of such transformation, including that of Matt Talbot, which begins, “It would have been almost a miracle had Matt Talbot avoided becoming an alcoholic.”  See
http://www.catholic365.com/article/3090/evidence-for-the-existence-of-god-from-experience-part-5-lives-transformed.html

Matt Talbot: Also the Workers’ Saint

 

Whereas Venerable Matt Talbot (1856-1925) may be known most frequently as the patron saint of alcoholics, he is also considered as the Workers’ Saint.

A search of our site and elsewhere online notes “worker” or “labourer” in the title of articles and books about Matt. For example, the title of an article at http://www.catholicireland.net/saintoftheday/matt-talbot-the-workers-saint/ is "Venerable Matt Talbot - The Workers' Saint" and the first sentence states: “Matt Talbot was a Dubliner who struggled with a drink problem, then led a severe ascetical life, and became known after his death as the Workers' Saint.” 

In an article about St. Joseph the Worker at

http://www.motherofallpeoples.com/2010/04/st-joseph-the-worker/, that included such headings as The Gospel of Work and Your Workplace is Holy Ground, Matt and others are mentioned as examples:

 

“...One thinks here of Ven. Matt Talbot, the Dublin workman who spent a lifetime as a laborer on building-sites; he would offer his daily work, in union with St. Joseph, to the Divine Workman, of whom he once remarked in his laconic way, “Christ the Carpenter must have a close interest in those who work.”

 

One also thinks here of Bl. Charles de Foucauld; wishing to share St. Joseph’s lowly status as a manual worker, he prevailed upon the Poor Clares, during his sojourn in Nazareth, to allot him the task of sweeping their convent floors.

Examples abound of Christian zeal in offering to God work of every kind in the spirit of penance and prayer. St. Benedict was imbued with this principle, as is seen in his famous motto: “To work is to pray.” Similarly St. Bernadette; on becoming an invalid she famously declared that this was the newfound employment she could and would offer to God.

Gerard Manley Hopkins had a sharp insight into how the humblest tasks, howsoever low-grade they may be socially and economically, can glorify God and sanctify the worker.”

Two Titles and Sources of Same Article

The purpose of this post is to clarify an informative article with two different titles and sources by the same author.

In 2007 we posted (with permission) the Abbey of Saint-Joseph de Clairval Spiritual Newsletter, August 15, 2004, about Venerable Matt Talbot by Dom Antoine Marie, OSB. at http://venerablematttalbotresourcecenter.blogspot.com/2007/11/matt-talbot-model-for-all-men-and-women.html.  Since it was titleless, we gave it the title, “Matt Talbot - A Model for all Men and Women,” for posting purposes.

Six years later, this article was reposted at https://prayers4reparation.wordpress.com/2013/10/08/a-former-alcoholic-on-the-road-to-sainthood-we-all-have-one-or-the-other-cross-to-carry-never-despair-of-gods-mercy/ with the title, “A FORMER ALCOHOLIC ON THE ROAD TO SAINTHOOD – WE ALL HAVE ONE OR THE OTHER CROSS TO CARRY; NEVER DESPAIR OF GOD’S MERCY!” Besides additional headings for the text, which may increase readability, this article also has a different source, namely, published in “The Little Way Association” (Helping the Missions side by side with St Therese), issue number 88, Sacred Heart House, London.

Keep the Light Shinning for Venerable Matt Talbot’s Legacy

 
http://venerablematttalbotresourcecenter.blogspot.com/search/label/tomb

A New Year with Venerable Matt Talbot

Although the 90th Anniversary Year of Venerable Matt Talbot’s death has concluded, let us continue to pray for his canonization and to share his life and influence with others, one day at a time, during