Pope Paul VI and Venerable Matt Talbot

On 6 November 1931, Archbishop Byrne of Dublin opened a sworn inquiry into the alleged claims of holiness of the former dock worker named Matt Talbot.

The Apostolic Process, the official sworn inquiry at the Vatican, began in 1947.

On 3 October 1975 Pope Paul VI declared him to be Venerable Matt Talbot, which is a step on the road to his canonisation, a process which needs evidence of a physical miracle in order to be successful.  

While Matt remains “Venerable,” Pope Francis  stated  earlier this month that he will proclaim Blessed Paul VI a saint later this year. Details are available at http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/pope-francis-paul-vi-to-be-canonized-this-year

Major Financial Donation to the Canonization of Venerable Matt Talbot

Carpet king Des Kelly left a gross estate of more than €13m in his will which included charitable bequests to two Dublin homeless shelters and €71,425 for the canonisation of Matt Talbot...” The article is available at the link below.

Carpet king Des leaves €13m in will and cash for 'Saint Matt'
By Liam Collins
January 21 2018
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/carpet-king-des-leaves-13m-in-will-and-cash-for-saint-matt-36512194.html 


NOTE: The cost of  some canonisations is estimated to be as much as €500,000. The donation amount in the article will undoubtedly help finance Matt's cause.

2016 PTAA and Matt Talbot Pilgrimage to Knock Homily

Bishop Denis Nulty gave the homily at the Annual PTAA and Matt Talbot Pilgrimage to Knock 17th July 2016, which can be read in its entirety at http://www.kandle.ie/bishop-nultys-homily-the-annual-and-matt-talbot-pilgrimmage-to-knock-17th-july-2016/. Only a portion of this homily is posted here. 


“…Today on pilgrimage I’m going to offer you a pairing that I think gives substance and life to our two pilgrimages, traveling as one today. I speak of Fr. James Cullen and Venerable Matt Talbot. Both men I have a deep affection for – the former in more recent years, since my appointment to Kildare & Leighlin Diocese, living now in Carlow and the latter, for close to twenty-eight years when I organized the very first Matt Talbot Mission in Mullingar.

James Cullen was born in New Ross in 1841. A comfortable background, allowing the family to send young James off to boarding school at Clongowes Wood College. That was in 1856, the year when Fr. Theobald Matthew of the great Temperance Crusade died. The Father Matthew Medal is still a very much revered possession amongst Pioneers. Returning to James Cullen, he was determined not to become a Jesuit, so he signed on for his native Ferns Diocese and studied for the priesthood in Carlow College.

The story goes that two years before his ordination, while home on holidays he had a chance encounter with a priest who certainly wasn’t a teetotaler, an encounter which set his mind firmly in the direction of temperance and in the founding of the PTAA. He was ordained in the Cathedral in Carlow. His early years of parish work brought him up front with the harsh reality of poverty and homelessness and identifying alcohol as the root cause then of both. His yearning towards the Jesuits never left him and he succumbed in 1881. The rest is history.

The second part of the pairing on this double pilgrimage day is Venerable Matt Talbot. I’m not sure what sparked my initial interest in this man to begin organizing missions around promoting his cause in Mullingar. It might stem from the account of his death, found bundled in a heap on Granby Lane – June 7^th 1925. On that same date, thirty-eight years later I was born. The newspaper account of Matt’s death talked of the body being taken to Jervis Street hospital. Staff at the hospital would later discover three chains on his body – a heavier one around his waist; a lighter one around his arm and another below his knee. Matt, apparently was on his way to his third Mass that day and it was still early morning. An eight year-old attended that Mass accompanying a hard of hearing aunt, who liked to get up front, in case she missed what the priest was saying, remembered well the announcement at the end of Mass: ‘A poor old man has been found dead on Granby Lane, we’ll pray for him’. That eight year-old later became a priest Fr. Dominic Crilly. I spoke with him shortly before he died – he always believed too much was made of Matt’s excessive drinking; for forty years of his life he was a fervent Pioneer.

Some people, who know my interest in Venerable Matt Talbot wonder why he hasn’t been raised to the realm of the beatified or better still canonized. The miracle of a saint must be unexplainable; the miracle of overcoming addiction, like Matt Talbot once did, is even harder to prove or classify. You can be cured of a tumor; you can be cured of cancer but an addiction can linger.

And that’s why for me the Saints are those who attend AA meetings up and down the country and overcome addiction through the step programme of prayer and mutual support. They will never be canonized on this earth; but like Venerable Matt Talbot, their behavior will be richly rewarded in eternity..."

New Norms for the Role of Money in Saint-Making

The new norms may be a financial benefit for the Cause of Venerable Matt Talbot.

Money and Saint-Making
by Gerald O'Connell 

April 4-11, 2016 Issue

http://americamagazine.org/issue/money-and-saint-making

Continuing his reform of Vatican finances, Pope Francis issued a decree on March 4 approving new norms relating to the administration of the “goods,” mainly money, of the causes for beatification and canonization of saints in order to ensure full transparency and accountability in this area.

He took this decisive step after the commission he set up in July 2013 concluded that there was little or no oversight on how the considerable sums of money collected for a particular cause were spent. The commission’s report revealed that the system approved by St. John Paul II in 1983 lacked effective oversight and failed to prevent abuses. John Paul II beatified 1,138 persons and declared 482 saints, and it was known in Rome during his pontificate that money had been an important factor in advancing some of them.

In early August 2013, Francis received alarming reports from the commission on this matter, and he immediately ordered the blocking of some 400 accounts of the postulators of the causes of beatification and canonization held at the Institute for the Works of Religion (commonly called the Vatican Bank). That was but the first step; the new norms are the latest.

That there were abuses in the system was long known. It became public knowledge when two Italian journalists, Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi, drawing on the commission’s leaked report, published books that revealed that while hundreds of thousands of euros were collected for a particular cause, there was little or no control over how this money was spent. The average cost for a beatification was around 500,000 euros (US $550,000). Fittipaldi, for example, highlighted the high costs for the cause of Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Most of the 450 postulators are religious, but Nuzzi cited the report as revealing that two lawyers (laypeople, both named) handled a disproportionate share of the 2,500 causes, with 90 cases each. Moreover, the family of one of them was among the three printers given contracts by the congregation to print the position papers (sometimes several volumes) for the causes.

While holiness is indispensable for canonization, Francis acknowledges in his preface to the new norms that causes “require much work, involving expenses,” first at the local diocesan level, then at the Roman level (the congregation) and finally for the celebration of the beatifications and canonizations. While the parties that launch a cause give a contribution, he said the Apostolic See “bears the costs” at the Roman level and also has the task of overseeing the incomes and expenditures.

According to the new norms, when an “actor” (such as a diocese or religious order) accepts a cause, it then sets up a fund to advance it. Contributions to this fund may come from individuals or juridical persons. Furthermore, a cause needs a postulator to promote it, and he or she normally requires professional input from medical, research, legal and other personnel, who may demand fees for their services.

The new norms establish that each cause is to have an administrator, who can also be the postulator general. They define the administrator’s tasks as including presenting a budget and balance sheet each year to the competent authority, namely the bishop, eparch, major religious superior or other ecclesiastical authority. The competent authority has the obligation to exercise vigilance over the money flow, approve the balance sheets and send a copy to the congregation, the highest instance of oversight, which has the power to discipline those who may misuse funds.

For the Roman phase of the cause, the norms say the congregation requires a contribution from the one who launches the cause. The norms give precise regulations on how all the money is to be used at the different stages and insist that all financial contributions for causes must be sent by bank order.

A “solidarity fund” is to be established at the congregation, the norms state, and whenever money is left over from causes that have ended, it is to be deposited there. This fund is to be used for causes that lack money to get them started. Francis is well aware that whereas countless causes from Italy, Spain and Poland thrive every year, many in Latin America, Africa and Asia cannot even reach the starting blocks, or move forward from there, because of the lack of human and financial resources. That is another reform on his radar.



Suggested reference:
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/csaints/documents/rc_con_csaints_doc_20160307_norme-beni-cause_en.html
 

Miracles for Canonization and the Example of Venerable Matt Talbot*

Why Miracles Should Remain a Requirement for Canonization  

COMMENTARY: Canonization and beatification aren't equivalent to induction into a hall of fame. The Church cannot risk raising up someone for veneration without definitive proof.

by Brian O’Neel

June 7, 2016
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/why-miracles-should-remain-a-requirement-for-canonization


Recently, I got into a vigorous debate with a good friend who is also a good Catholic.

He longs for the eventual canonization of the Irish alcoholic Venerable Matt Talbot (d. 1925). He says the Holy Father should just go ahead and declare him a saint, although Talbot’s intercession hasn’t produced a miracle.

His argument is that, in the Year of Mercy, Pope Francis should show mercy to the ever-growing legion of those addicted by drugs or alcohol by canonizing the former drunk from Dublin. Doing this, he argues, would show addicts the Church understands that their affliction isn’t a weakness, but a true sickness, and she offers them both the temporal and spiritual compassion they need to beat their disease.

As a semi-professional hagiographer who has studied Talbot’s life, I agree he certainly deserves the title of “Venerable,” meaning he led “a life of heroic virtue.” That doesn’t ipso facto make him a saint, however.

I wanted to make the same argument to a nun with whom I recently spoke. Her order’s foundress is up for beatification. When I asked this sister why this “Servant of God” deserves our consideration as an example for us to emulate, she replied in an incredulous, almost-offended voice: “Why, she founded an order.”

No doubt, this spiritual mother was a very good and holy woman. Her body was even found incorrupt. But that doesn’t necessarily make her a saint.

To know whether someone is in heaven, we need a miracle. All any of us — you, I, the consultors for the Vatican’s saint-making office (the Congregation for the Causes of Saints) —  can see is the surface of a person. We don’t know what lies inside the hidden corners of a soul. Only God does.

To wit, one book on hell tells the story of a male religious who everyone agreed lived a remarkably holy life. Thus, when he died, his brothers naturally assumed he went to heaven. So imagine their surprise when his apparition appeared a short time later, telling them he was in everlasting fire. The reason? He died with an unconfessed mortal sin.

The story may be a myth. More believable is the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Paragraph 1033 says: “To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God’s merciful love means remaining separated from him forever by our own free choice.”

How many of us have committed a mortal sin and hesitated to confess it out of fear or shame?

But even if a Servant of God or Venerable died in a state of grace, is it not at all likely they are in purgatory and not before the Beatific Vision? The Fatima visionary Francisco Marto — Blessed Francisco, mind you — was counseled he would need to say many Rosaries to avoid purgatory. Our Lady told the children a deceased girl they knew would “be in purgatory until the end of the world.”

One might reasonably ask what anyone so young could have done to merit such a long time in purgatory. But if we know our Catholic faith, then we understand we spend time in purgatory not as a punishment, per se, but to cleanse the temporal effects of sin from our souls.

With someone such as Matt Talbot, is it not conceivable that he is in purgatory? After all, he started excessively drinking at age 12. He didn’t quit drinking until age 28. Let’s be conservative and say he was drunk every day for 15 years. (We know he usually was inebriated, because the day he gave up drinking his mother was surprised to see him sober.) That is 5,475 days of drunkenness. At least once, he stole to get money for drinking. Who knows what other damaging acts to the soul he committed. That is a huge number of mortal sins. (Note: As St. Thomas points out in the Summa, Q. 150, intoxication isn’t always a capital sin.) Yes, our God is perfectly merciful — but he is also perfectly just.

And for reasons we’ll discuss, we need a definitive sign from God before we go declaring his justice satisfied.

It wasn’t always so. For several hundred years, local bishops or communities were allowed to proclaim someone a saint or blessed. This led to “Blessed Charlemagne,” who had eight to 10 known wives and concubines, and of his 20 children, nine were illegitimate. He also had 4,500 Saxons massacred in a single day and said any survivors who refused to receive baptism would likewise die. The Swedes once revered as a saint a man who was killed while drunk.

This is why the Holy See began reserving the canonization process to itself, permanently doing so in 1170 under Alexander III. Since then, popes such as Sixtus V, Urban VIII, Benedict XIV and St. John Paul II have revised the saint-making procedure. But always, miracles have been required.

So why require a miracle as part of the process? As professor Heidi Schlumpf wrote on the process: “Miracles confirm ‘the Church’s judgment regarding the virtue or martyrdom of the Servant of God.’”

God can make this confirmation at any moment. Considering the average length of a beatification (118 years from death to ceremony) and canonization process (an average 49 additional years), Mother Teresa of Calcutta and John Paul II were approved for sainthood amazingly quick.

If God wanted to demonstrate that Talbot or, say, Jesuit Father Walter Ciszek, a Servant of God, was in heaven at this moment, what would stop him from doing so?

Ultimately, the desire to scrap the miracle “litmus test” is an impatience to see our “saint” raised to the altars. There may be purely altruistic reasons behind this, but the spirit is still the same. But if we get rid of the miracle requirement, then why have a process at all?

Why, indeed. Canonization and beatification aren’t equivalent to induction into a hall of fame. As Jesuit Father J.R. MacMahon wrote: “When the Pope utters the solemn words defining the new saint, he is relying, not merely on human industry or prudence or wisdom, but on the special assistance of the Holy Ghost, and [pay attention here] his definition is infallible.”

Therefore, the Church cannot risk raising up someone for such veneration without definitive proof. The faithful aren’t even supposed to directly pray to a Servant of God or Venerable for their intercession. Instead, we’re supposed to ask God for those prayers. To see that, all one has to do is look at the back of a prayer card for any person who hasn’t yet received beatification. Then compare it to one from a person who has been beatified or canonized. Notice the difference?

Let us be patient. Let us wait on God to do the work that will show forth his glory as he wills it, and not as we do. And let us pray for the souls of those we consider saints but who may actually be in purgatory.

*NOTE:  We created a different title for posting purposes.

Since this article's content is likely to elicited varied reactions, we recommend reading the comment section at its publication link. The content may also stimulate additional articles as well as content for inclusion in presentations and homilies.

 

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 

 

                                                       

A Perspective on Pope Francis and his Canonizations

Matthew Bunson, one of the United States’ leading authorities on the papacy and the Church, has written an informative article on Pope Francis and his strong emphasis on promoting the lives of the saints at

https://www.osv.com/OSVNewsweekly/ByIssue/Article/TabId/735/ArtMID/13636/ArticleID/18519/The-Churchs-New-Saints.aspx?ref=top10.

At some point in his papacy, perhaps Venerable Matt Talbot will be one of the estimated 4,000 causes of saints currently working through the Congregation for the Causes of Saints that Pope Francis will promote.

One Road to Sainthood Infographic

While Pope Francis visits the USA Tuesday, September 22 to Sunday, September 27, 2015, he will be canonizing a Franciscan friar named Father Junipero Serra. Some 231 years have passed since Father Serra’s death. Is it normal for canonizations to take that long?

The infographic at http://www.valuepenguin.com/2015/09/junipero-serra-same-long-wait-be-catholic-saint provides some information.

As for the canonization of Venerable Matt Talbot, we must continue to pray and remain patient with God’s timetable.

1931 Prayer for the Canonisation of Matthew Talbot

Six years after the death of Matt Talbot, this prayer was issued and approved by the Archbishop of Dublin, Edward J. Byrne, on 15 June, 1931.  Source: http://www.archive.org/stream/MN5135ucmf_8/MN5135ucmf_8_djvu.txt.

PRAYER

O Jesus, true friend of the humble worker, Thou hast given us in Thy servant, Matthew, a wonderful example of victory over vice, a model of penance and of love for Thy Holy Eucharist, grant, we beseech Thee, that we, Thy servants, may overcome all our wicked passions and sanctify our lives with penance and love like his.

And if it be in accordance with Thy adorable designs that Thy pious servant should be glorified by the Church, deign to manifest by Thy heavenly favours the power he enjoys in Thy sight, who livest and reignest for ever and ever. Amen.

The passing of Venerable Matt Talbot

Matt Talbot passed into eternity 89 years ago today while walking on Dublin's Granby Lane to another Mass on Trinity Sunday. He was not wealthy, not educated, and not well known during his life-time but is on his way to becoming a saint.

A particularly moving two-part article about Matt and his road to canonization by Maureen Mullarkey can now be found at http://www.studiomatters.com/things-to-read/venerable-matt-talbot and http://www.studiomatters.com/things-to-read/matt-talbot-contd or at http://venerablematttalbotresourcecenter.blogspot.com/2013/09/meeting-venerable-matt-talbot.html.

A Call for Canonisation of Venerable Matt Talbot

Cathal Barry

May 8, 2014

 

Cathal Barry, a columnist for The Irish Catholic, published the following article titled , “Lobby Pope for Matt Talbot Sainthood--Call,” at http://www.irishcatholic.ie/article/lobby-pope-matt-talbot-sainthood-%E2%80%93-callon  on May 8, 2014.  It is based on an interview with Fr. Brian Lawless, Vice Postulator for the Cause of Canonisation of Matt Talbot, who urges Irish Church leaders to lobby Pope Francis for this canonisation. 

 

Although not explicitly stated in this article,  “Friends of Venerable Matt Talbot” worldwide are also invited to urge their church leaders to do the same.

gleplus0  New

Irish Church leaders are being urged to lobby Pope Francis for the canonisation of the saintly Dubliner Matt Talbot.
The Dublin-based priest responsible for Matt Talbot’s cause for sainthood made an impassioned appeal to the hierarchy ahead of the 89th anniversary of the well-known Dubliner’s death next month.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Fr Brain Lawless, Vice Postulator for the Cause of Canonisation of Venerable Matt Talbot insisted the bishops “should be pushing for Matt Talbot to be canonised”.
“Matt was a poor working man from Dublin. He wasn’t a member of a religious order and he doesn’t have the big machinery behind him that the Franciscans or the Jesuits have to get their saints through. That’s why his cause is so important and needs support,” he pleaded.
“Part of his charm and endearment is that Matt is just like one of us. But that also goes against him to a certain extent. That’s why I’m batting for Matt. He’s one of the little guys,” he said.
The Informative Process for the Beatification of Matt Talbot (illustrated) was opened in 1931 by the then Archbishop of Dublin, Edward J Byrne. The Church subsequently recognised Talbot as ‘Servant of God’ and on October 3, 1975, he was declared ‘Venerable’ by Pope Paul VI.
Fr Lawless, who is responsible for eliciting a miracle that could lead to the beatification and eventual canonisation of Matt Talbot, claims a “physical miracle” is needed now for his cause to progress to the next stage.
“We need a miracle now that is not explainable by science, which is more or less instantaneous, and one that would verify that Matt enjoys the same devotion and regard in Heaven as he does here on Earth.”
“There is still every chance that Matt Talbot could be made a saint in our life time. It’s just a matter of building up interest and momentum,” he said.
- See more at: http://www.irishcatholic.ie/article/lobby-pope-matt-talbot-sainthood-%E2%80%93-call#sthash.efTQIcI9.dpuf

gleplus0  New

Irish Church leaders are being urged to lobby Pope Francis for the canonisation of the saintly Dubliner Matt Talbot.
The Dublin-based priest responsible for Matt Talbot’s cause for sainthood made an impassioned appeal to the hierarchy ahead of the 89th anniversary of the well-known Dubliner’s death next month.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Fr Brain Lawless, Vice Postulator for the Cause of Canonisation of Venerable Matt Talbot insisted the bishops “should be pushing for Matt Talbot to be canonised”.
“Matt was a poor working man from Dublin. He wasn’t a member of a religious order and he doesn’t have the big machinery behind him that the Franciscans or the Jesuits have to get their saints through. That’s why his cause is so important and needs support,” he pleaded.
“Part of his charm and endearment is that Matt is just like one of us. But that also goes against him to a certain extent. That’s why I’m batting for Matt. He’s one of the little guys,” he said.
The Informative Process for the Beatification of Matt Talbot (illustrated) was opened in 1931 by the then Archbishop of Dublin, Edward J Byrne. The Church subsequently recognised Talbot as ‘Servant of God’ and on October 3, 1975, he was declared ‘Venerable’ by Pope Paul VI.
Fr Lawless, who is responsible for eliciting a miracle that could lead to the beatification and eventual canonisation of Matt Talbot, claims a “physical miracle” is needed now for his cause to progress to the next stage.
“We need a miracle now that is not explainable by science, which is more or less instantaneous, and one that would verify that Matt enjoys the same devotion and regard in Heaven as he does here on Earth.”
“There is still every chance that Matt Talbot could be made a saint in our life time. It’s just a matter of building up interest and momentum,” he said.
- See more at: http://www.irishcatholic.ie/article/lobby-pope-matt-talbot-sainthood-%E2%80%93-call#sthash.efTQIcI9.dpuf

Lobby Pope for Matt Talbot sainthood

“Irish Church leaders are being urged to lobby Pope Francis for the canonisation of the saintly Dubliner Matt Talbot.

The Dublin-based priest responsible for Matt Talbot’s cause for sainthood made an impassioned appeal to the hierarchy ahead of the 89th anniversary of the well-known Dubliner’s death next month.

Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Fr Brain Lawless, Vice Postulator for the Cause of Canonisation of Venerable Matt Talbot insisted the bishops “should be pushing for Matt Talbot to be canonised”.

“Matt was a poor working man from Dublin. He wasn’t a member of a religious order and he doesn’t have the big machinery behind him that the Franciscans or the Jesuits have to get their saints through. That’s why his cause is so important and needs support,” he pleaded.

“Part of his charm and endearment is that Matt is just like one of us. But that also goes against him to a certain extent. That’s why I’m batting for Matt. He’s one of the little guys,” he said.

The Informative Process for the Beatification of Matt Talbot (illustrated) was opened in 1931 by the then Archbishop of Dublin, Edward J Byrne. The Church subsequently recognised Talbot as ‘Servant of God’ and on October 3, 1975, he was declared ‘Venerable’ by Pope Paul VI.

Fr Lawless, who is responsible for eliciting a miracle that could lead to the beatification and eventual canonisation of Matt Talbot, claims a “physical miracle” is needed now for his cause to progress to the next stage.

“We need a miracle now that is not explainable by science, which is more or less instantaneous, and one that would verify that Matt enjoys the same devotion and regard in Heaven as he does here on Earth.”

“There is still every chance that Matt Talbot could be made a saint in our life time. It’s just a matter of building up interest and momentum,” he said.”

Note:  The same day Mr. Barry also published a very informative and timely article titled, “Matt Talbot - Urban ascetic,” at http://www.irishcatholic.ie/article/lobby-pope-matt-talbot-sainthood-%E2%80%93-call. The section subtitled “The ultimate layman” contains information that relates to the content of the above article.

Venerable Matt Talbot's life, influence, and road to sainthood

In this very informative and timely article, Cathal Barry presents the life, influence, and road to sainthood of Venerable Matt Talbot. 

Following his introduction, reproduced below, Mr. Cathal divides his article into three sections:  “Matt story,” a biographical sketch of his life, “The ultimate layman,” based on an interview with Fr. Brian Lawless, Vice Postulator of the Cause for the Canonisation of Matt Talbot, and “Matt Talbot changed my life,” an interview with addiction counsellor, Michael Murphy.

Matt Talbot - Urban ascetic

by Cathal Barry, Columnist

The Irish Catholic

May 8, 2014

Source: http://www.irishcatholic.ie/article/matt-talbot-urban-ascetic

“We live in an age of addictions more sophisticated than ever before. Addictions to substances such as alcohol and other drugs soft and hard, prescription and illegal, addictions to gambling, the internet, work, money and power. All these have the ability to destroy our lives and often end up eating away at our very souls as well.

Matt Talbot gradually came to this awareness and from the time of his conversion as a young man of 28, he spent the rest of his life living to a heroic extent the Christian virtues through prayer, spiritual reading, work and acts of charity.

His life is a witness to the fact that people can, by God's grace and their own self acceptance, say no to that which leads to addiction or addictive behaviours...”

Note: A companion article by the author can be read at http://www.irishcatholic.ie/article/lobby-pope-matt-talbot-sainthood-%E2%80%93-call

Remembering the Birth of Venerable Matt Talbot Today

One hundred and fifty eight years ago at 13 Aldborough Court, Dublin, Ireland, Elizabeth Talbot gave birth to her second of twelve children, who she and her husband, Charles, named Matthew.

Only God knew that we would remember this birth and his life today as Venerable Matt Talbot, patron “saint” of alcoholics and those seeking sobriety.

Matt is not yet an official Roman Catholic canonized saint since he lacks two known physical miracles credited to his intercession. While there are alcoholics (and other addicts) worldwide who consider their sobriety through Matt’s intercession a miracle, these are currently viewed by the Church as "moral miracles."
(For a discussion on types of miracles see http://www.amazon.com/Making-Saints-Catholic-Determines-Becomes/dp/0684815303 pages 212-213 and http://www.amazon.com/The-Miracle-Detective-Investigative-Investigates-ebook/dp/B008RZKOFQ, page 31.)

Prayer for the Canonisation of Matt Talbot

 

Lord, in your servant, Matt Talbot you
have given us a wonderful example of
triumph over addiction, of devotion to
duty, and of lifelong reverence for the
Holy Sacrament. May his life of
prayer and penance give us courage
to take up our crosses and follow in the
footsteps of Our Lord and Saviour,
Jesus Christ.

Father, if it be your will that your
beloved servant should be glorified by
your Church, make known by your
heavenly favours the power he enjoys in
your sight. We ask this through the
same Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Canonisations of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II

On April 27, 2014, which is Divine Mercy Sunday, Pope Francis will raise to the altars of the saints Blessed John Paul II and Blessed John XXIII.


In preparation for these canonisations, the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference has created a special web feature to commemorate this historic event at
http://www.catholicbishops.ie/2014/04/08/canonisations-blesseds-john-xviii-john-paul-ii/. This link includes:

• The Process of Becoming a Saint
• The miracles attributed to Blessed John XXIII and Blessed John Paul II
• Life and ministry of John XXIII and John Paul II
• Events in Ireland
• Details of broadcast of the ceremonies
• Details of Irish cinemas showing the ceremonies live in 3-D
• Special commemorative booklets from Veritas Publications  (http://www.veritasbooksonline.com/)

Both of these popes knew of Venerable Matt Talbot. See, for example,  http://venerablematttalbotresourcecenter.blogspot.com/2008/02/popw-john-paul-ii-wanted-to-beatify.html

Historical Development of Matt Talbot's Cause

The interesting website at http://newsaints.faithweb.com/about_us.htm is the result of years of research and collaboration between the members of the Hagiography Circle with the Congregation of the Causes of Saints and the petitioners of beatification and canonization causes from the time of the French Revolution (1789) to today, including up-to-date news at http://newsaints.faithweb.com/index.htm.

Below is the listing for Venerable Matthew Talbot (http://newsaints.faithweb.com/year/1925.htm). The definition of each entry is available at http://newsaints.faithweb.com/databases.htm:

07 June in Dublin (Ireland)    

MATTHEW (MATT) TALBOT                                                                                       
 layperson of the archdiocese of Dublin;                               

  member, Secular Franciscans                                                 
born: 02 May 1856 in Dublin (Ireland) The                     

                

diocese of competent bishop: Dublin                                   

CCS protocol number: 101                                                    

type of cause: heroic virtues                                                    

       

opening of informative process: 06 November 1931           

closing of informative process: 1934

decree on writings: 27 November 1937

 introduction of cause: 28 February 1947

 decree “non-cultu”: 04 April 1948

 opening of apostolic process: 1948

 closing of apostolic process: 1953

 decree on validity of informative and apostolic processes: 19 February
   1963

 commission of CCS officials and consultants: 25 March 1975

 session of cardinal and bishop members of the CCS: 13 May 1975

 promulgation of decree on heroic virtues: 03 October 1975

       

 postulator: Mons. Liam Bergin

 petitioner: Archdiocese of Dublin, Drumcondra, Dublin 9 IRELAND

 website: www.matttalbot.ie

                     

                

  

The Gift of Self and Cooperation

“The multiplication of the loaves: Meditation during a retreat on the gift of self and cooperation.

Father Alberto Hurtado, S.J. (1901-1952)*

http://www.padrealbertohurtado.cl/fph/santo/idiomas/english/the-multiplication-of-the-loaves/

Introduction

Indecision, faintheartedness is the great obstacle in the plan of cooperation. We think: “I’m not worth all that much”, and from this comes discouragement: “It makes no difference whether I act or fail to act. Our powers of action are so limited. Is my unpretentious work worthwhile? Does my abstaining from this have any meaning? If I fail to sacrifice myself nothing changes. No one needs me… A mediocre vocation?” How many vocations are lost. It is the advice of the devil that is partly true. The difficulty must be faced.

The solution

5,000 men along with women and children have been hungry for three days… Food? They would need at least 200 denarii to feed them and this is the approximate yearly salary of a laborer. In the desert! “Tell them to go!” But Andrew, more observant says: “There are 5 loaves and 2 fish, but what are these among so many!” Here we have our same problem: the disproportion.

And the loaves. Made of barley, hard as rocks (the Jews used wheat). And the fish. They were from the lake, small, rather mushy in texture, carried by a young boy in a sack that had lain on the ground for 3 days in the heat… not much of a solution.

Did the Lord despise this offering? No, and with his blessing he fed all the hungry and had leftovers. Neither did he despise the leftovers: 12 baskets of the surplus were gathered, fish heads and bones, but even this he valued.

The young boy consented to give Christ his poor offering, not realizing that he would feed the multitude. He believed that he had lost his small possession but he found instead that there was even a surplus and that he had cooperated for the good of the others.

And me… like those fish (less than those loaves) bruised and perhaps decomposing but in the hands of Christ my action may have a divine scope a divine reach.

Remember Ignatius, Augustine, Camillus de Lellis, and Matt Talbot, base sinners whose lives were converted into spiritual nourishment for millions who will continue to feed on their witness.

My actions and my desires can have a divine scope and can change the face of the earth. I will not know it, the fish did not know it either. I can do a great deal if I remain in Christ; I can accomplish much if I cooperate with Christ…”


*Note:  Popularly known in Chile as Padre Hurtado,  Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga was beatified on October 16, 1994 by Pope John Paul II and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 23, 2005. St. Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga was one of the first people to be elevated to sainthood during the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI; he was also the second Chilean saint, after Saint Teresa of Los Andes.

Two brief biographies include http://www.amdg.ie/2005/11/04/the-making-of-a-saint/#more-142 and  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Hurtado. 

To diffuse the writings (and biography) of Padre Hurtado among a wider public, A Fire that Lights other Fires: Selected pages from Father Alberto Hurtado, S.J. (2012) is available free online at http://www.clerus.org/clerus/dati/2012-07/31-13/02_A_Fire.html.

(With their canonization later this year, two additional saints who knew of Matt Talbot are Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII.)

Update:  The Vatican has confirmed that John XXIII and John Paul II will be canonized in the same ceremony on April 27, 2014

Date Set for John Paul II's, John XXIII's Canonizations

Remembering Venerable Matt Talbot

Whereas a feast day is only officially declared by the Church when a holy person is canonized, multiple websites list holy persons who are not yet canonized as “Saint of the Day” but with different calendar dates. Such is the case with Venerable Matt Talbot. 

We have previously noted various feast day dates or what we call Remembrance Day for Venerable Matt Talbot.  Most sites lists either June 18 or June 19. One very popular “Saint of the Day” website, however, lists Matt Talbot for June 18 at one of their links
(http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saintofday/default.aspx) and June 19 at another (http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx?id=1418,although  the recorded message at both links refer to only the June 18th date. (Archbishop Charles Brown, Papal Nuncio to Ireland, posted “Year of Faith-The Saints-Ven. Matt Talbot” on June 19 at http://homiliesarchbishopcharlesbrown.blogspot.com/2013/06/year-of-faith-saints-ven-matt-talbot.html)
 

A third date that seems to be on the increase is June 7, the date of Matt Talbot’s death, such as at http://www.catholicireland.net/saintoftheday/matt-talbot-the-workers-saint/, http://www.loyolapress.com/saints-stories-for-kids.htm?cId=403542, http://clericalwhispers.blogspot.com/2011/06/naomh-lae-saint-of-day_07.html, and http://www.gloria.tv/?media=163920). This may be the date that will be selected by the Church upon his canonization. Of course, each of us may choose to remember Matt each and every day.

Dublin Jesuits remember the worker in chains

[This article was published a few months before Matt Talbot was declared "Venerable" by Pope Paul VI on October 3, 1975 and St. Oliver Plunkett was canonized by Pope Paul VI on October 10, 1975.]

by Terence J. Sheehy

http://archive.catholicherald.co.uk/article/24th-january-1975/6/dublin-jesuits-remember-the-worker-in-chains

On a hot, drowsy Sunday in June, 1925, a shabbily dressed old man fell dead in a Dublin street. In the mortuary of Jervis Street Hospital the attendant uncovered the frail body of a one-time hopeless alcoholic — a body deeply embedded with penitential chains. It was the corpse of Matt Talbot.

The Irish worker in chains has been beaten by many, many lengths in the race for the first saint to be canonised in Ireland in 700 years. The winner is Oliver Plunkett, 17th century Archbishop of Armagh.

The body of Oliver lies in state in the Benedictine Abbey of Downside. His head is enshrined for veneration in Saint Peter's Church in Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland.

Both Matt and Oliver were under stances orders, for the canonisation stakes of 1975, and the almost silent Dublin workman has been beaten by the almost equally silent archbishop.

The spot al which Matt fell in Granby Lane, Dublin, near the Dominican Churchis, in my opinion, one of Ireland's holy places and well worth visiting in this Holy Year of 1975. So is his simple grave in the cemetery of Glasnevin a holy place, and the room in which he lived at 18 Upper Rutland Street.

Call into the Jesuit Fathers in St Francis Xavier's Church in Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin, and they will tell you all about their most illustrious parishioner. He attended daily Mass there at 5 o'clock every morning, after rising from his rough wooden bed of planks, with its wooden pillow, and its covers of half a blanket and an old sack.

Like many Dublin workmen of the twenties he lived mostly on hot cocoa and dry bread. His wages at his death were three pounds a week.

Matt left the Christian Brothers' school at 12 years of age. They have difficulty in remembering his presence at all, as he so frequently played truant. He went to work at 12 years of age.

He was then almost illiterate, but he graduated from reading the Jesuits' "Messenger of the Sacred Heart" to being .deeply read and conversant with the works of Aquinas, of Newman, of Augustine, of St John of the Cross, and with the devotion to the Blessed Virgin of de Montfort.

Occasionally he wrote down favourite quotations from his readings on scraps of paper in an elementary and child-like handwriting. On one of these scraps of paper we read: "The Kingdom of Heaven was promised not to the sensible and the educated but to such as have the spirit of little children."

Matt was a good listener. He seldom spoke, but when he did he really had something to say in the way of spiritual guidance for a friend, or advice on prayer. He was the antithesis of the many loquacious stout drinking Irishmen of today who all too often regard themselves as God's gift to the visiting English tourist.

It is well worth while visiting the Church of St Francis Xavier in Upper Gardiner Street to savour the silence which Matt Talbot found there. Matt also frequented "Adam and Eve's," the Franciscan church on the Liffey Quays opposite the Four Courts, and made "visits" to the Blessed Sacrament in the Carmelite church in Clarendon Street, off Grafton Street, and told his beads in the Pro-Cathedral, and in the Church of Saint Laurence O'Toole.

Those were the days of "visits" and the rosary before we all became sophisticated after Vatican II. These Dublin churches are some of Ireland's holy places and the congregations at morning or evening Mass present one with what Mathew Arnold once described as being made up of "All the pell-mell of all the men and women of Shakespeare's plays."

Matt had a thing about the wrong use of the Holy Name, and blasphemy. from which we could still learn a lesson in the Ireland of today.

He was a man of great silence in prayer, and in this respect he had much in common with Our Lady of Knock. She appeared at the little church of Knock in County Mayo in 1879. She appeared in the drizzling rain in a year of famine and utter misery to a hungry people. She said nothing. She was Our lady of Silence.

And yet, one senses that she was moved to appear on the evening of August 21, 1879, to some 20 sane and simple people in a mute message of sympathy and understanding. There was no spoken message as she appeared on the gable wall of the parish church of Knock.

There were three figures — herself, Saint Joseph and Saint John the Evangelist, and on the altar stood the Lamb of God with a cross. The total vision recalled the scene of the Apocalypse in the Gospel according to Saint John.

The late Archbishop of Tuam, like Matt, was a good listener and a man of very few words. As Archbishop of Tuam he was certainly more Tuam than Meum in his conversation, and I can vividly recall how he expressed his sincere belief in Our Lady of Silence of Knock.

Knock should be visited this Holy Year and a leaflet entitled "Pilgrimage to Knock," tells us that it is 138 miles by train from Dublin, 126 miles by bus from Dublin, and 134 miles from Dublin by road. So you pays your money and you takes your choice.

Blessed Oliver Plunkett, now to be the first formally recognised saint in Ireland for over 700 years, will be past the post in the canonisation stakes in October this year. We know that Pope Paul, when he was Mgr Montini, visited Drogheda In 1951 and beheld the head of Oliver in its shrine in Saint Peter's Church.

One wonders if the footsteps of Mgr Montini were directed to Granby Lane, and when the Dublin labourer will have his name added alongside that of Oliver Plunkett in the roll of Ireland's saints.

Oliver, like Matt, had a great devotion to the rosary, and on his way to his martyrdom at Tyburn he gave his rosary beads, his only possession, to his faithful servant James MacKenna who had been in his service for 11 years. These rosary beads are still preserved today by the descendants of James, who ministered to his master in prison.

At the hour of his death on the scaffold at Tyburn, the Archbishop of Armagh made a public declaration of his devotion to Our Lady which deeply moved all those present.

We are told; "He supplicated the Divine Majesty to be propitious to him, through the merits of Christ, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin and of all holy Angels and Saints in Paradise, which form of prayer, so simple yet so pious, was remarked by the spectators who never remember to have heard from any other such an express mention of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints."

That was on July 11, 1681, on the charge of fomenting revolt to re-establish "the religion of Rome."

He was born in the parish of Loughcrew, near Oldcastle, Co Meath, in 1625, ordained priest in Rome in 1654, and made Archbishop of Armagh in 1669.

These were years of an Irish Church in chaos and fear after the Cromwellian massacres and persecution. The charge against him was a pure fabrication for political ends to nail a Catholic bishop as a victim. He was killed simply because he was just that — a Catholic bishop.

As a Catholic bishop whose work was to endeavour to restore peace in his time through non-violence he is a splendid example for all of us today.

Because the Dundalk jury of 12 honest Irish Protestants were bound to acquit him, the politicians of Charles II had him tried in London — a trial which was as illegal as it was unjust.

But the elevation to the ranks of the saints of the 17th century Archbishop of Armagh who was always on such good terms with his Protestant fellow countrymen must surely have a lesson for 1975, as have the life of Matt Talbot, and the Apparition of Our Lady of Knock.

A Reference to Being "Venerable"

In Bill Donahue’s, The Secret World of Saints: Inside the Catholic Church and the Mysterious Process of Anointing the Hold Dead (2011), Byliner Inc: Kindle Edition http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006P2X86U, he briefly describes the procedures of the Church’s saint-making process in Chapter 6. Donahue notes that “Venerable is a pretty high rank—akin to, say, four-star general or eighth-degree black belt. Very few servants [those declared “Servants of God”] get there, and when they do, the Vatican allows them some perks: You can build a church in a venerable person’s honor. You can put his image on prayer cards and build little shrines. Catholics pray to the venerable—and often allot them small plots of holy turf. For instance, the Venerable Matt Talbot, an Irish dockworker and drunkard who went on the wagon to live his final forty-one years as an ascetic, is the patron saint of alcoholics.”

Whereas Venerable Matt Talbot’s patronage is already established in the eyes of many, Donahue states in a footnote that "saints are never chosen on the basis of their patronage potential. Rather, they’re picked for their virtues and for their miracles—and then, over time, they accrue patronages...”

A note on Blessed Columba Marmion and Venerable Matt Talbot

[We have previously noted articles that mention Blessed Columba Marmion (1858-1923) and Venerable Matt Talbot (1856-1925). In the excerpt below from an article written on the 89th anniversary of the death of Blessed Marmion, Matt Talbot, among other sons and daughters of Catholic Ireland, is mentioned.]

A Son of Ireland for the Whole Church

By Dom Mark Daniel Kirby, OSB

January 30, 2012

http://vultus.stblogs.org/2012/01/abbot-marmion-irelands-gift-to.html

“...Blessed Columba Marmion may very well be the greatest gift in modern times of the Church in Ireland to the Church universal. Catholic Ireland needs the affirmation, the consolation, the joy, and the holy pride that will come from the beatification and canonization of those sons and daughters of hers who illumined modern times with the radiance of the Face of Christ shining through them. I could mention, among others, Father Willie Doyle, Frank Duff, Edel Quinn, Matt Talbot, Father John Sullivan, and Little Nellie Organ but, of all of these, Blessed Columba Marmion is the one whose Christ-centred life and teaching, like a lamp on a lampstand, shone most brightly in the Church of the 20th century, and in souls....”