Urban Mystic - The Life of Matt Talbot

"A saint for our times" - Matt Talbot is recognized worldwide as a model of hope, conversion, perseverance and recovery. Fr. Brendan Fitzgerald & St. Barnabas parish is delighted to host a screening of Urban Mystic - The Life of Matt Talbot on Saturday, October 31st at 7pm at St. Barnabas Elementary School Auditorium. Doors open at 6pm. Matt Talbot’s story isn’t just history, it’s a message of hope for today. Once trapped in addiction, he found freedom through faith, prayer, and perseverance. His journey reminds us that with God's Grace no struggle is too great to overcome. Born in 1856, Talbot was the second-eldest of 10 children who survived out of 12. Largely uneducated, he began working at age 12 for a company that bottled Guinness beer. Talbot took to sampling the product, a common practice among the other child laborers. By age 16, he also started drinking whiskey, and he spent the next 12 years as an alcoholic. “Every penny that he earned was used to buy alcohol. At age 28, Talbot had “a conversion experience,” something shared by many in addiction recovery who “come to a realization that something has to change. For Talbot, the breaking point came after a week of unemployment left him penniless and unable to buy a drink. Realizing that “his future looked as bleak as his past," Talbot decided to “take the pledge” and commit to a three-month period of abstinence, a common practice encouraged by temperance movements of the day. Yet Talbot quickly realized that sobriety was not a matter of having an iron will. Suffering from alcohol withdrawal a few days after abstaining, he went into a church and acknowledged in prayer that only God’s grace could sustain him. “He emptied himself,” adding that addiction is an effort to fill “a hole in the soul” that can only be completed by God. Talbot embraced the Catholic faith in which he had been raised, attending daily Mass and eventually finding a spiritual director. Barely literate, he learned to read and write so that he could explore the Scriptures, the lives of the saints and spiritual writings. Having read the works of St. Louis de Montfort, Talbot developed an intense devotion to Mary, even wearing chains around his wrist, hand and right knee. Although he spent his life in gritty, working-class conditions, Talbot cultivated a spirituality often associated with hermits or other contemplatives. A secular Franciscan, Talbot died in 1925 while on the way to Mass, closing his eyes just as the church bells rang. His cause for canonization began almost immediately. Pope Paul VI declared Talbot venerable in 1975, and Pope John Paul II expressed support for Talbot’s canonization, although he was unable to stop at the would-be saint’s shrine in Our Lady of Lourdes Church during a 1979 visit to Ireland. Talbot remains a powerful intercessor for those longing for liberation from alcohol and drugs. Come along and be inspired by a man whose life proves that holiness and healing are possible in the everyday. Matt Talbot is A Saint for Our Times. Please register on this link to secure a seat.