Venerable Matt Talbot, Saint of the day for June 18th

(May 2, 1856 - June 7, 1925)

The story of the venerable Matt Talbot

Matt can be considered the patron saint of men and women struggling with alcoholism. He was born in Dublin, where his father worked on the harbor and had difficulties supporting his family. After a few years of school, Matt got a job as a messenger for some liquor merchants; there he began to drink excessively. For 15 years - until almost 30 years - Matt was an active alcoholic.

One day he decided to take the "commitment" for three months, make a general confession and start attending daily Mass. There is evidence that Matt's first seven years after the engagement have been particularly difficult. Avoiding his former drinking establishments was difficult. He began to pray intensely as he once drank. He also tried to repay the people he borrowed or stole money from while drinking.

For most of his life, Matt worked as a worker. He joined the Secular Franciscan Order and began a life of severe penance; he abstained from meat nine months a year. Matt spent hours every night eagerly reading the scriptures and the lives of the saints. He prayed the rosary conscientiously. Although his job didn't make him rich, Matt contributed generously to the missions.

After 1923, his health failed and Matt was forced to quit his job. He died while going to church on Trinity Sunday. Fifty years later, Pope Paul VI gave him the title of venerable. His liturgical feast is on June 19th.

Reflection

Looking at the life of Matt Talbot, we can easily focus on the following years in which he stopped drinking for some time and led a penitential life. Only alcoholic men and women who have stopped drinking can fully appreciate how difficult Matt's first years of sobriety were.

It had to take one day at a time. So let's do the rest of us.