Matt Talbot was a humble Dublin workman whose life of prayer and penance has become well known since his death on June 7, 1925.
Matt was born on 2 May 1856 into a working-class family in Dublin’s inner city. From his early teens up to the age of twenty-eight Matt Talbot was addicted to alcohol, which was a source of great distress to those who loved him. In 1884, however, Matt stopped drinking and made a three-month pledge to God that he would refrain from the habit. Despite great temptations in the early stages of his conversion, he never took a drink again. The remaining forty-one years of his life were lived heroically by Matt in attending daily Mass, in constant prayer, in helping the poor and adopting the ascetic lifestyle of Celtic spirituality.
He was a dedicated member of the Third Order of St Francis, being professed in 1890.
Within a few short years of his death his reputation grew as a saintly man, and especially as a patron protector of those suffering from all forms of addiction and their families. He was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery and then in 1972 his remains were removed to a tomb in Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Sean McDermott Street, Dublin, in the area where Matt spent his life.
Every day pilgrims come to pray at his tomb, which is often a meeting place for people grappling with alcoholism or drug addiction. Many come in organised pilgrimages from overseas as well as Ireland.
Matt was declared Venerable by Pope St Paul VI who visited his grave when he was a Cardinal. Pope St John Paul II had a devotion to Matt and expressed a wish to beatify him. When a young man, the Pope had written an article on Matt in Polish. During his 2018 visit to Ireland, Pope Francis stopped to pray at Matt’s tomb in Our Lady of Lourdes Church.
The year 2025 is the centenary of his death, which will be marked with various initiatives across Ireland to honour Matt Talbot’s legacy of faith, recovery, and perseverance.
Prayer for the Canonisation of Venerable 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 Most 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.