Who Was Matt Talbot?
Matt's First Days on Planet Earth
On June 7, 1925, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a 69-year-old man dropped dead of a heart attack in Granby Lane in Dublin, Ireland. The deceased was taken to Mater Misericordiae hospital, maybe as a “John Doe”. At the hospital, founded by the Sisters of Mercy, the man would have been stripped of his clothes by the Sisters and it was then that the chains were discovered on his body. Around his arms, his legs and waist, exactly where and how many I am not certain. Now intrigued, the Sisters would learn that it was the body of Matt Talbot. And thus began the investigation of who Matt Talbot was.
Over the next nine months I will write a series of articles about Matt Talbot, leading up to the centenary of his death on June 7, 2025.
Matthew Talbot was born on May 2, 1856 in a room in a tenement house at Aldborough Court. This section of Dublin was once occupied by some of the wealthy people of Dublin. When they moved to the other side of the river, their large homes were turned into tenements. In this particular room, Charles and Elizabeth (nee Bagnal) Talbot would give birth to their second son. Eventually they would have a total of twelve children.
Three days after his birth, Matthew Talbot would be baptized at St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral in Marlborough Street. In June of 2015 I had the privilege of touring many Matt Talbot sites in Dublin with the Vice-Postulator for Matt Talbot’s Cause for Canonization, Fr. Brian Lawless, and my good friend Fr. Douglas McKay. I will provide pictures from that trip in addition to pictures I received from Fr. Lawless throughout these articles.
Matt’s parents would not aware at the time the critical role that his baptism would play in his life. After all, his road to sanctity didn’t start when he put down the drink but when he was conceived in his mother’s womb and then dedicated to Almighty God at his baptism.
I wonder today how many people will grow up without this foundation because their parents opted to forego “infant baptism” with the notion that their children can decide when they get older. I thank God every day that my parents baptized me in the Catholic Church. Like Matt, it may have seemed routine at the time but would play a major factor in who he, and I, would become later in life.
Coming up next: Matt Talbot’s youth
Joyful Films and Our House Ministries have joined forces to produce a feature length film/documentary on the life of Matt Talbot. Our hope is complete the project before the centenary in June of 2025. To make that happen we need to raise $50,000 to begin filming and $250,000 total to make a state-of-the-art film with the ability to impact thousands who struggle with alcoholism and addiction. Visit MattTalbotFilm.com to learn more about the project and make a donation.