Venerable Matt Talbot is considered the patron of men and women struggling with alcoholism.

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 obtained work as a messenger for some liquor merchants; there he began to drink excessively. 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 begin to attend daily Mass. There is evidence that Matt’s first seven years after taking the pledge were especially difficult. Avoiding his former drinking places was hard. He began to pray as intensely as he used to drink. He also tried to pay back people from whom he had borrowed or stolen money while he was drinking.

Most of his life Matt worked as a builder’s laborer. 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.

After 1923 his health failed and Matt was forced to quit work. He died on his way to church on Trinity Sunday. Fifty years later Pope Paul VI gave him the title venerable.

Love uCATHOLIC?
Get our inspiring content delivered to your inbox every morning - FREE!

30 COMMENTS

  1. St. Matt Talbot please help my youngest son get the job he has been waiting for and to endure the training, that both my sons have bright, happy, healthy and blessed future, for them to have a happy and loving family living under Jesus and Mary’s guidance and protection, bless and protect our family and pray for us, Amen.

  2. St.Talbot,Pray for the family of my sister Maria Luna H.Gozon-Sanoy becauae she is very drunking girl and i am mercy for her 2 children,that is here outlet when she get hurt for her husband,because her husband is adict of gumbler roster…always misierable family,thank you

  3. venerable Matt is an inspiration for me, I will become brave and know that with his help will quit drinking alcohol. I do not go beyond 4 beers, but would like to stop!!Please pray for me!!!

  4. Venerable Matt Talbot, please pray for all those struggling with alcoholism, especially for my friend Michele’s father.

    • Please intercede as well for my former student Brittany’s mother, that she’s able to get her life in order and give up the bottle.

  5. Venerable Matt,
    Please intercede for us regarding those who are struggling with an
    alcohol addiction…with prayerful assurance, we pray.

  6. St.Matt,
    i would like to offer my prayer to my boyfriend,that he would stop drinking too much alcohol..my dad died because of cancer.he was an alcoholic person.and i don’t want him ended up being sick because of the complications due to drinking alcohol..And i am so inspired with your story. Please intercede with us,amen!

  7. June is a very important month for alcoholics: our patron Matt Talbot 6/18 – and, importantly, the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous June 10, 1935. Thanks be to God!

  8. Howdy! I could have sworn I’ve visited this web site before
    but after browsing through a few of the posts I realized it’s new to me.
    Regardless, I’m definitely pleased I stumbled upon it and I’ll
    be book-marking it and checking back frequently!

  9. Here, in the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Dublin, where we have the shrine of Ven Matt Talbot, we pray every day for the intentions of his devotees.

  10. Please pray for healing for young John. We will all be very grateful. Thank you, and I will pray for you also. auntie Mary

  11. I have been seeking for help to help my husband to quit drinking and smoking weeds and he becoming to be verbally abbusive of false accusation between us. He never join me worshiping. Pls help Thank you

  12. please St Matt Talbot iv read ur books when i was younger you give me strength through Padre-pio.
    I Beg you today for myself, Help me to pass my Driving Test Please St Matt Talbot im doing it this month.Wednesday 20th July at 08-50 hours.Please St Matt be with me that morning in Ireland ,
    Behind the wheel and help me to pass ,its a Wednesday.help me so i dont have 2 depend on everyone
    to take me to chapel an Holy communion,also to get to my we weekly prayer group.
    Thank You St Matt Talbot
    Your Friend in Christ
    Tricia moran xx
    Amen

  13. St Matt talbot im Back asking for your help , not for me but a son of mine Kieran Moran,he is an ancholice.
    IV not spoken to him from 2013 ,He beat me up bad through Drink .iv Prayed 2 Parde-pio,Our good Lord.for him
    Also Jesus Christ,and Our Lady of mercy ,Lady of hope. Iv actulay handed him over to Our good Lord Jesus
    Christ. Well im very Happy for him at the moment he is of the drink,But St Matt he is with a girl that suffered simler thing at his hands. but not as bad as me .but this girl is in my eyes no good for him, he is of drink a year and she is an ancholice , Her name is Karen and she gets him to drive her every where she wants to drink. He tell,s me truth and she dont ….But im not Going down that road i just want as much help for him as i can St matt Talbot Please help my son Kieran i do love him and wont him back in my life slowley.
    Thank You St Matt Talbot
    Thank you Amen
    Tricia Moran

  14. The Carmelite Fathers at St. Cecilia in Englewood, NJ were praying for his beatification when I was in High School in the 1940s. Later I played the organ for his Mass at the Carmelite chapel in Dublin, Ireland.

  15. Venerable Matt Talbot, pray for us. Thank you for your physical and emotional anguish, in reparation for your own sins and as a willing sacrifice for others. For your love of the Franciscan order, their devotion and asceticism. May your intercessory prayers help and heal weary discouraged addicts. Bless Ireland, my spouse, the pervasive melancholy that immobilizes the hearts of so many. Teach steadfast and abiding reliance on Jesus.Thank you, Pope Paul vi, for officially recognizing his miraculous transformation and may we see Saint Matt Talbot canonized in my lifetime. Amen.

    • Venerable Matt Talbot, pray for us. For Pat’s soul if he’s in purgatory. Death in Jan/Feb2021 of liver failure. May the divine assistance remain always with us and may the souls of the Faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace and may perpetual light shine upon them. Amen.

  16. Dear St. Matt Talbot: I am so sorry that you suffered with alcoholism. It must have been so hard. I will pray for you. And will you please pray for the world now that the coronavirus has spread and affected so many people. And even those who have not come down with it, live in fear that it will reach them or their families. Pray for us and I will pray for you.

    • It is customary to pray to a saint or a venerable or a blessed or a servant of God, not for them. They are already in Heaven. Ask with confidence that they intercede for your prayer petitions. He sees the Father Almighty, the Beatific Vision, so needs nothing more.

  17. O merciful God, fill our hearts, we pray, with the graces of your Holy Spirit; with love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. Teach us to love those who hate us; to pray for those who despitefully use us; that we may be the children of your love, our Father, who makes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. In adversity grant us grace to be patient; in prosperity keep us humble; may we guard the door of our lips; may we lightly esteem the pleasures of this world, and thirst after heavenly things; through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Prayer of Anselm, 1033-1109 AD)

  18. Thank you for your help for my son and his drinking problem. He has been doing well for over a year now. I would appreciate any help you can give to my nephew with his situation.
    🙏

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here