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Matthew Talbot, a reflection on his centenary year

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Matt’s Rosary Beads & Chain. Photo: Supplied.

The life of the Venerable Matt Talbot is one of a singular figure.  

Though there are vast differences of time and context from his life to now, there are several clear images that can help distil the extraordinary man: Matt the Alcoholic, Matt the Irish Mystic, and Matt the Real Man. 

Matt the Alcoholic 

The circumstances of Matt’s early life were shaped by widespread poverty in Ireland, shortly after the cataclysmic Great Famine.  

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The role of alcohol then was vastly different to the current context of declining alcohol consumption. Then, alcoholism was prevalent, often a compounding tragedy caused by preexisting hardships and intergenerational problem use of alcohol.  

Church, Granby Lane Dublin. Photo: Supplied.

Severe problem use often causes great suffering for spouses and children, and impacts employability and sense of self-worth. The young alcoholic Matt drank to the point of exhausting his wages and credit, when Matt would then sometimes pawn his only valuable items—his work boots, in order to buy more drinks.  

One can only imagine walking home barefoot at night in freezing Dublin. Then there is Matt at 28-years of age, out of work and out of friends, unable to buy more drinks, sitting dejected on the corner of an historic Irish pub next to the River Liffey.  

The monumental Cathedral of the Trinity towered on the hill above Matt and neighbouring streets contained many churches. Shortly afterwards, he ultimately decided to turn to the truest friend, the perfect friend—Jesus Christ.  

Matt the Irish Mystic 

The new Matt was a modern mystic, a late 19th and early 20th century man in whom the ancient monastic saints of Ireland would find a kindred spirit.  

Matthew talbot
Matt’s current resting place – Shrine at Our Lady of Lourdes Church. Photo: Supplied.

The pioneering Irish monastics were romantic figures, such as St Columba, St Brigid and St Enda, evoking images of hooded saints on misty island monasteries. These crucial centres of holiness, learning and culture played important roles in evangelising pre-Christian Scotland and England, and rebuilding mainland European Catholic culture after the Fall of Rome.  

The new Matt now learned how to read and he read deeply and profoundly on the lives of the saints, mystical and ascetical theology, and philosophy, modelling his daily life on their ancient practices. His profound devotion and rich mystical life were striking even for his time, especially as a layman living outside a religious community.  

Despite his problematic youth and subsequent rich inner life, “Matt was not a colourful character; he had a very simple personality,” as Fr Tom Ryan wrote in The Matt Talbot Story.  

Matt’s grounded and understated personality is surely part of the credibility of his holiness and his personal appeal. 

Matt the Real Man  

Matthew talbot
Venerable Matt Talbot is pictured in an undated painting. An Emmy-winning Philadelphia religious filmmaker is undertaking an ambitious, crowdfunded documentary on Talbot, who overcame addiction through a deep devotion to the Eucharist. (OSV News photo/CNS file, Gina Christian)

Matt grew to become a real man in every way. His virtues exemplified positive masculinity, in reliability, responsibility, self-discipline and restraint, perseverance, consistency, generosity and compassion.  

Matt clearly sought to make amends to those he had wronged, such as searching for a musician whose fiddle he had once stolen in order to pay for more drinks, and recompensating other creditors.  

Matt was steadfast and reliable in his extensive spiritual life, including during the Easter Rising of 1916 when Matt passed through the military barricades to attend Mass. When weekday Mass times changed at one point, impinging on his attendance before making it to work, Matt’s solution was to find a new workplace.  

He was reliable at work, working consistently and receiving increasing responsibilities in his physically demanding workplaces. Matt lived abstemiously in spartan quarters, which enabled him to be generous to others, until he had no savings left.  

He helped individuals and families in need, supported the overseas missions, donated clothing and Catholic books, through regular and spontaneous donations. Matt remained compassionate to all amid his own personal growth, never causing him to become proud or severe.  

Sculpture on Liffey embankment. Photo: Shutterstock.

In Matt’s words, “Never be too hard on the man who can’t give up drink. 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.”  

Matt Talbot’s spiritual life included: 

  • Pre-dawn prayer vigils
  • Extensive spiritual reading
  • The Rosary, Stations of the Cross, Jesus Prayer and The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin
  • Franciscan as well as Marian spirituality
  • Daily Mass and frequent confession
  • Visits to the Blessed Sacrament
  • Almsgiving and fasting – often for months without meat
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