Saint Paul VI and Venerable Matt Talbot

In addition to six others, Pope Francis declared Pope Paul VI a saint today.

Born Giovanni Battista Montini in 1897 in the northern Italian province of Brescia, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1920 and was named archbishop of Milan in 1954. He was elected pope in 1963 and died at the papal summer villa in Castel Gandolfo on 6 August 1978.
 
In her book, Remembering Matt Talbot, Mary Purcell wrote that during a visit to Ireland and staying at the presidential residence, Cardinal Montinni, the future Pope Paul VI, went to Glasnevin Cemetery to visit Matt Talbot’s grave. Not wanting to be recognized, he visited the cemetery by bike dressed as an ordinary priest, paid his respects to one whose life’s story he had read and in whose Cause he was deeply interested.
 

In a 1974 address in Rome to Calix Society members on the occasion of their twenty-fifth anniversary, Pope Paul VI” stated: “You have chosen to look upon Matt Talbot as an admirable exemplar of discipline and supernatural virtue. It is our hope that his success will encourage countless men and women throughout the world to realize the need for conversion, the possibility of real rehabilitation, the serenity of Christian reconciliation, and the peace and joy of helping others to overcome abuses, disorders and sin.”

On 3 October 1975, Pope Paul VI proclaimed the treatise on the heroic virtues of Matt Talbot, giving the Dublin worker the title of "Venerable."

Combating Alcoholism through the Example and Intercession of Matt Talbot

The following selection is an excerpt from Praying for Those with Addictions by Anne Costa (The Word Among Us Press, 2016). 

https://bookstore.wau.org/Praying-for-Those-with-Addictions-A-Mission-of-Love-Mercy-and-Hope-P280.aspx

Venerable Matt Talbot, Patron Saint of Alcoholics:

Combating Alcoholism through the Example and Intercession of Matt Talbot

By: Anne Costa

September 7, 2017

https://wau.org/resources/article/venerable_matt_talbot_patron_saint_of_alcoholics
 

In all difficult times and circumstances, throughout the history of humanity and the Church, God has raised up saints in our midst to help us. They are our sisters and brothers in the body of Christ.

They lived lives and encountered hardships that are very similar to our own. When we call upon the saints, we give our prayers an extra boost of intercessory power, and our own faith is bolstered in the process.

These ordinary people were given extraordinary graces and virtues to combat the darkness and trials that surrounded them. Five such individuals come to the forefront as guides on our mission of love, mercy, and hope for those we know who are addicted. They are St. Faustina, Venerable Matt Talbot, St. Monica and St. Augustine, and St. Maximilian Kolbe.

Venerable Matt Talbot

Venerable Matt Talbot (1856–1925) is the patron saint of alcoholics. He was one of twelve children born into extreme poverty in the tenements of Dublin, Ireland. His father was a heavy drinker who could not provide for his family, and so he moved them from place to place. As a result, Matt attended formal school only from the ages of eleven to twelve and could not read or write.

When Matt was twelve, he got his first job as a delivery boy for a beer bottling company and also took his first drink. This unhealthy combination seemed to seal his fate. By the time he was sixteen, Matt was a confirmed alcoholic. He was spending all of his money on alcohol and not supporting his family, who remained desperately poor. Matt recalled that he reached his lowest point “when he and his brothers stole a fiddle from a blind street player and sold it for the price of a drink.”

While these hardly seem like the actions of a man on his way to sainthood, God had another plan! One fateful Saturday afternoon, after twelve years of hard drinking, Matt found himself without a job, without a drink, and without a friend to help him get one. As he walked home that day, he experienced a moment of immense grace. He suddenly saw with an intense clarity in his mind and heart that he had been wasting his life. At the age of twenty-eight, he saw himself for what he truly was—a fool who had nothing to show for his life.

By the time he reached his home, Matt had made the decision to quit drinking. That very day he walked to Dublin Seminary and made his confession to a priest, who helped him “take the pledge” to renounce alcohol for three months. He returned at six months and then made the pledge for life—but it was not easy! There were no twelve-step programs or counselors or support groups to help him. Nevertheless, Matt maintained sobriety through a recovery program that centered on daily Mass, devotion to the Eucharist, a love for Mary, and spiritual reading. (He learned to read so that he could read the Bible.)

Matt Talbot is often referred to as an “urban ascetic.” After his conversion, he lived a life of quiet devotion, holiness, and extreme generosity in spirit and material goods in the midst of the flourishing city life that swirled around him. He offered a pious contrast and example of austerity and charity for those he worked with and those in his neighborhood.

Although there is no cause for sainthood presently open for Matt Talbot’s mother, Elizabeth, perhaps there should be! In addition to her husband, all but one of her seven sons were alcoholics. She had no money and barely a roof over her head but managed to remain steadfast in her prayers for her family. She took in work and held out hope that her family could be cured of its problems. Thanks to Matt, she was able to live the last twelve years of her life in relative peace and stability when he moved in to care for her after his father who passed away.

“Never be too hard on the man who can’t give up drink,” Matt Talbot is often quoted as saying. “It’s as hard to give up the drink as it is to raise the dead to life again. But both are possible and even easy for our Lord. We have only to depend on him.”. . . 

“Lord, you give us the example of Venerable Matt Talbot as a man who seemed completely lost and beyond your grace. In a single moment, you pierced his heart and changed his mind, leading him back to you. Jesus, I pray for this same conversion and transformation for _________ in your perfect will and timing and for your greater glory. Amen.”

Note: Matt Talbot (1856-1925) was declared “Venerable” by Pope Paul VI in 1975.

Pope approves new path to sainthood

Pope approves new path to sainthood: heroic act of loving service

 By Carol Glatz  

Catholic News Service

7.11.2017 

http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2017/pope-approves-new-path-to-sainthood-heroic-act-of-loving-service.cfm

 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis has approved a fourth pathway to possible sainthood -- giving one's life in a heroic act of loving service to others.

In a new apostolic letter, the pope approved new norms allowing for candidates to be considered for sainthood because of the heroic way they freely risked their lives and died prematurely because of "an extreme act of charity."

The document, given "motu proprio" (on his own initiative) went into effect the same day of its publication July 11, with the title "Maiorem hac dilectionem," which comes from the Gospel according to St. John (15:13): "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends."

Archbishop Marcello Bartolucci, secretary of the Vatican Congregation for Saints' Causes, said the addition is meant "to promote heroic Christian testimony, (that has been) up to now without a specific process, precisely because it did not completely fit within the case of martyrdom or heroic virtues."

For centuries, consideration for the sainthood process required that a Servant of God heroically lived a life of Christian virtues or had been martyred for the faith. The third, less common way, is called an equivalent or equipollent canonization: when there is evidence of strong devotion among the faithful to a holy man or woman, the pope can waive a lengthy formal canonical investigation and can authorize their veneration as saints.

While these three roads to sainthood remain unchanged, they were not adequate "for interpreting all possible cases" of holiness, the archbishop wrote in the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, July 11.

According to the apostolic letter, any causes for beatification according to the new pathway of "offering of life" would have to meet the following criteria:

-- Free and willing offer of one's life and a heroic acceptance, out of love, of a certain and early death; the heroic act of charity and the premature death are connected.
-- Evidence of having lived out the Christian virtues -- at least in an ordinary, and not necessarily heroic, way -- before having offered one's life to others and until one's death.
-- Evidence of a reputation for holiness, at least after death.
-- A miracle attributed to the candidate's intercession is needed for beatification.

Archbishop Bartolucci wrote that the new norms arise from the sainthood congregation wanting to look into the question of whether men and women who, "inspired by Christ's example, freely and willingly offered and sacrificed their life" for others "in a supreme act of charity, which was the direct cause of death," were worthy of beatification. For example, throughout history there have been Christians who willingly put themselves at risk and died of infection or disease because of aiding and serving others, he wrote.

Pope Francis approved the congregation carrying out an in-depth study of the new proposal in early 2014, the archbishop wrote. After extensive input, discussion and the work of experts, the cardinal and bishop members of the Congregation for Saints' Causes approved in 2016 "a new pathway for beatification of those who offered their lives with explicit and recognized Christian" reasons.

Archbishop Bartolucci wrote that the new provisions do nothing to alter church doctrine concerning Christian holiness leading to sainthood and the traditional procedure for beatification.
Rather, the addition offers an enrichment, he wrote, with "new horizons and opportunities for the edification of the people of God, who, in their saints, see the face of Christ, the presence of God in history and the exemplary implementation of the Gospel."

Vatican Tightens Rules on Miracles and Money in Sainthood Cases

https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2016/09/23/vatican-tightens-rules-miracles-money-sainthood-cases/

New rules approved by Pope Francis and released by the Vatican on 09 September 2016 are designed to make the process for approving a miracle in a sainthood cause more stringent, and also to ensure there's a clear paper trail behind who's picking up the tab and how much is being spent.

New rules presented by the Vatican are designed to tighten the process for approving miracles as part of sainthood causes, and to also make sure there’s a clear paper trail behind who’s picking up the tab and how much they’re spending.

The text was approved by Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, in the name of Pope Francis in August and released on Friday
.
Italian Archbishop Marcello Bartolucci, the number two official at the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints, presented the highlights of the new measures in a note released by the Vatican’s Press Office.

The new rules include:

• To approve a miracle, at least 5 out of the 7 members of the body of medical experts within the congregation must approve, or 4 out of 6, depending on the size of the group, as opposed to a simple majority.
• In case a miracle report is rejected on the first go-around, it may only be reexamined a total of three times.
• In order to reexamine a miracle claim, new members must be named to the consulting body.
• The president of the consulting body may only be confirmed to one additional five-year term after the original mandate expires.
• While in the past payments to experts could be made in person by cash or check, now the experts must be paid exclusively through a bank transfer.

In general, the going rate in sainthood causes is roughly $560 for each of the two medical personnel asked to perform a preliminary review, and about $4200 in total for the seven members of the medical consulting committee.

The new rules are not retroactive, and hence they do not invalidate any beatifications or canonizations performed under earlier procedures.

Bartolucci said work on the new rules began one year ago, around the same time that leaks of confidential Vatican financial documents raised questions about financial practices in the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

In his book “Merchants in the Temple,” Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi charged the congregation was among the most reluctant Vatican offices to cooperate with new transparency measures imposed as part of Francis’s project of Vatican reform, and asserted that the average cost of a sainthood cause was about $550,000.
U.S. Catholic officials traditionally have used $250,000 as a benchmark for the cost of a cause from the initial investigation on a diocesan level, to a canonization Mass in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, though that cost can increase depending in part of how many people take part in the canonization ceremony and the logistics of organizing the event.

In March, Pope Francis had already approved a new set of financial procedures for the congregation, outlining procedures for handling contributions and specifying which authorities are charged with overseeing the flow of money.

Under those measures, while the postulator, or promoter, of a sainthood cause can continue to administer the funds for each cause, the bishop of the diocese or the superior general of the religious order that initiates the cause or another church authority must review financial statements and approve the budgets for each cause.

The rules approved in March also confirm a “Solidarity Fund” created by St. Pope John Paul II in 1983 to help cover the costs of causes where resources are lacking, giving the congregation discretion to transfer unused money from one case into the fund to cover the expenses of another.

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
 

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

In the hunt for miracles

Although his initial focus in this post is on Katherine of Aragon, Fr John Hogan, OCDS, opines on Irish Causes for sainthood, including Matt Talbot, and states that

“we should be pushing, knocking doors and dropping prayer cards all over the world in the hunt for miracles."

http://fatherdirector.blogspot.com/2011/05/new-saint.html#comments

How Does "Blessed" Differ From "Venerable?"

"Ask a Franciscan"

St. Anthony Messenger

August 2010

Q: In the process of canonizing someone, what is the difference between Blessed and Venerable? I am very fond of Venerable Matt Talbot (1856-1925), who achieved sobriety after years of battling alcoholism. Do you have any information about the status of his cause?

A: The progression of titles is Servant of God (cause has been completed on the diocesan level and accepted in Rome), Venerable (a person's life and writings have been investigated and found to reflect heroic virtue), Blessed (can be venerated liturgically in certain places or by certain groups of people) and Saint (can be venerated liturgically throughout the world).

A person moves from Venerable to Blessed in one of two ways: he or she is judged to have died because of "hatred for the faith" or he or she is judged to have been involved in the miraculous cure of an individual. A second miracle is needed to be declared a saint.

In our world of instant communication, the local-versus-worldwide distinction regarding veneration has become harder to maintain. Blessed Padre Pio (1887-1968) was venerated far beyond Italy and the Capuchin family before his canonization in 2002. Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997) inspires some people much more than many canonized saints. Both were widely admired before they were beatified.

Matt Talbot was declared Venerable in 1975. A miracle is needed before he can be beatified. A Venerable Matt Talbot Resource Center is available on the Internet.

Source: http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Aug2010/Wiseman.asp#top

"Things Saint What They Used To Be"

While Mother Teresa, Pope John Paul II, and Sr. Lucia Dos Santos of Portugal

are on the fast-track to sainthood, Matt Talbot is not on such a list. Yet for those interested in or directly affected by alcoholism and know of him, Matt Talbot has been an example and inspiration since his death in 1925. (JB)

THINGS SAINT WHAT THEY USED TO BE

MICHELLE O'KEEFFE

Sunday Mirror > Sep 29, 2002

A LEADING Irish theologian has accused the Pope of devaluing the process of canonisation by implementing a fast track route to sainthood.

Pope John Paul II has canonised 455 saints in his period in office - more than any other Pope. He has beatified more than 1,200 putting them on the road to early sainthood.

Theologian Gina Menzies said: "He has gone out of his way to ensure that nearly every time he visits a country he canonises a local holy person. This Pope seems to be a Pope who goes for volume.

"The process of canonisation is being undermined by the numbers and speed that people are becoming saints.

"There is a real danger of devaluing the status of saints.

"Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer will be made a saint this week and he is only dead 27 years - whereas Thomas Moore was dead 400 years before he was canonised."

Fr Tom Jordan agrees: "Speedy canonisation is undervaluing the process. If you have too much of anything it isn't as valued as a rare event."

Some theologians say they are concerned that becoming a saint has a lot to do with lobby groups and less to do with popular cult appeal.

Fr Jordan said: "Some people lead lives of faith, love and charity and should be saints but are not even recognised.

"It is an exclusive club and often people with certain support have a better chance of making it.

"Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer is the founder and head of OPUS DEI so he has some very influential support - perhaps contributing to his rapid canonisation."

If you want to be a saint you will be in with a better chance if you are an Italian or Polish unmarried male member of a religious order who has a strong lobby group.

One man whose canonisation is not progressing is Dubliner Matt Talbot who is revered by many. Matt Talbot led a holy life and also overcame his alcohol addiction.

Derek Warfield from the Wolfe Tones said: "I credit Talbot for helping me give up the drink.

"In the seventies my music meant that I was around alcohol a lot. Before I even realised I had a problem I found myself dependent.

"My mother-in-law had great devotion to Talbot but I never really took it seriously. I started to read about his life and then began to pray to him - he gave me the strength to deal with my drinking problem.

"In my eyes and in the eyes of a lot of Dubliners he will always be a saint - we don't need a church in Rome to tell us he is a saint, the community can pick them out very fast."

Source: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_20020929/ai_n12848750/print

Vatican issues new standards for sainthood

Many news sources have published articles on the new standards for sainthood this week. We await any news if this will affect the cause of Matt Talbot. (JB)

Cardinal explains reasons for new standards for sainthood

Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins

Vatican City, Feb 18, 2008 / 11:51 am (CNA).- Today the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins presented the anticipated Instruction, “Sanctorum Mater” to increase the rigor of the sainthood process.

The new restrictions are expected to diminish the number of candidates proposed to the Vatican for recognition.

In his remarks, the Portuguese cardinal explained that the Instruction is divided into six sections.

“The first draws attention to the need for a true reputation of holiness before beginning a process, and explains the duties and roles of the petitioner, the postulator and the competent bishop,” the cardinal said.

“The second part describes the preliminary phase of the cause which extends as far as the 'Nihil Obstat' of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.” The ‘Nihil Obstat’ is a status given to the works of the person in question which certifies that nothing in their teachings contradicts the teachings of the Church.

“The third section concerns the instruction of the cause. The fourth part concentrates on the gathering of documentary proof and the fifth on the gathering of proof from witnesses. Finally, the sixth section of the document outlines the procedures for the closing of the inquiry,” he explained.

Cardinal Martins also explained the need for the publication of the document. “In some dioceses, certain provisions of the law have not always been understood and, consequently, not been put into practice with the necessary meticulousness, which has sometimes made it necessary for the congregation to supply clarifications or to ask diocesan curias to correct errors.”

He continued, “dioceses do not always have access to specialized individuals with practical experience of the various procedures involved in a cause of canonization.” For this reason, “it is evident that a practical document, such as this Instruction, was useful, indeed necessary.”

The new norms are also expected to clear up confusion regarding the methodology of the process.

“When the current legislation on causes of saints came into force,” said the cardinal outlining another reason for the publication of the present document, “an unfounded idea became widespread that the traditional methodology ... had been substituted by some kind of historical-critical investigation.”

The reason for this confusion was “the fact that the term 'inquisitio' used in Latin (the only official text) to designate the procedure of the diocesan phase of a cause of canonization was translated in Italian as 'inchiesta' (inquiry)". The new Instruction, then, highlights "the importance of procedure" in causes of beatification and canonization, "and accurately highlights the norms that must be observed."

A final reason for issuance of the document is to emphasize the significance of the “fame of sanctity or martyrdom.”

According to Cardinal Martins, some dioceses or others promoting a potential saint’s cause were not aware that a reputation for holiness “is a prior requirement of absolute importance.”

Lest a person’s reputation for sanctity be built up by their cause for sainthood being introduced, the cardinal insisted that “a procedure must not begin without irrefutable proof that the Servant of God ... is held to be a saint or martyr by a considerable number of faithful, who invoke him or her in their prayers and attribute graces and favors to his or her intercession.”

During the pontificate of Benedict XVI, there have been 20 beatification ceremonies during which 563 Servants of God were beatified, including 48 diocesan priests, 485 male and female religious, and 30 lay people, for a total of 509 men and 54 women.

The canonization ceremonies celebrated thus far during the pontificate of Benedict XVI number four (three in Rome and one in Brazil), during which 14 people were canonized.

According to the Press Office of the Holy See, the current total of saints and blesseds of Pope Benedict’s pontificate is 577.

Source: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=11812

Also see http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article3392227.ece

Beatification, Canonization, and Sainthood

As indicated in the title of this resource center, the word, "Venerable" is used. Some may ask what this word means in the Roman Catholic Church.


In November, 1931, Archbishop Byrne of Dublin, Ireland opened an inquiry into the alleged claims to holiness of Matt Talbot. The Vatican began their official inquiry in 1947, and Matt was noted as "A Servant of God." In October, 1975, Pope Paul VI declared him to be "Venerable," which does not require a miracle. A physical miracle will be required to be declared, "Blessed,"
and a second miracle to be declared a "saint."

In order to learn more about the meaning of beatification, canonization, and sainthood, some resources are listed:


Vatican website, with new procedures in the rite of beatification.
Vatican website, with new procedures


New Advent Catholic encyclopedia provides a helpful discussion of beatification and canonization, beginning with its history.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02364b.htm


This very readable article briefly notes the types of saints, types of virtues, titles of candidates, requirements for miracles, and the beatification and canonization processes: http://www.overcomeproblems.com/saints.htm


This article addresses those individuals who might be more likely to be canonized and does mention Matt Talbot:
http://www.stthomasirondequoit.com/SaintsAlive/id697.htm


Wikipedia provides extensive discussion and links about beatification, canonization, and sainthood. (Beware, however, that anyone can edit the content.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canonization


Stages of Canonization in the Roman Catholic Church (Wikipedia)
Servant of God → Venerable → Blessed → Saint


An excellent book on this topic is, "Making Saints: How the Catholic Church determines who becomes a saint, who doesn't, and why" (1990) by Kenneth Woodward. This book can be found in many USA public libraries.