VENERABLE MATT TALBOT

THE ALCOHOLIC SAINT - HIS STRUGGLES AND VICTORIES

Feast Day: June 19

Lived (May 2, 1856 – June 7, 1925)

Patron Saint of Alcoholics and Sobriety

Matt was born in Dublin, where his father worked on the docks and had a difficult time supporting his family. After a few years of schooling, Matt got a job as a messenger for some liquor merchants; there he started drinking to stupor. For 15 years—until he was almost 30—Matt was an active alcoholic.

One day he decided to take “the pledge” for three months, make a general confession and began to attend Mass daily. Matt’s first seven years after taking the pledge were very difficult. Avoiding his former drinking places was hard. He began to pray as hard as he used to drink. He also tried to refund people from whom he had borrowed or stolen money while he was drinking.

Matt worked most of his life as a builder’s labourer. He joined the Secular Franciscan Order and began a life of strict penance; he abstained from meat nine months a year. Matt spent hours every night avidly reading Scripture and the lives of the saints. He prayed the Rosary conscientiously. Though his job did not make him rich, Matt contributed generously to the missions.

Around 1924, his health failed, and he had to stop work. On his way to church on Trinity Sunday, he slumped and died. Fifty years later, Pope Paul VI honoured him with the title venerable.