Ruadhán Jones
Dublin priest Fr Hugh O’Connell has said Ven. Matt Talbot is “already a saint” and called on Irish people to recognise his holiness.
Quoting Talbot’s biographer Mary Purcell, Fr O’Donnell said “saints are saints not because of the official proclamation, but because they are holy”.
“As far as I’m concerned, he is a saint,” Fr O’Donnell said to The Irish Catholic.
Fr O’Donnell said that Matt Talbot was a “uniquely holy” man whose whole life was directed to God.
“We have to seek what he sought,” said Fr. O’Donnell. “The all for him was a search for God in his life. Once he found it, once he got a taste for it, he wouldn’t let it go then.
“He told somebody, ‘I prayed for the gift of prayer and got it in abundance.’ That’s what we need to recover, a spirituality… to learn to pray again.”
People frequently offer intentions to Ven. Talbot, according to Fr O’Donnell, leaving hundreds of notes at his shrine.
Intentions
“We’ve a box for people’s intentions if they come to the shrine. The people come with all sorts of intercessions. To do with family, it could be to do with addiction, it could be people out of a job – a huge, huge range.
“My hope is that he will be more widely recognised, that he will inspire people. I know there are many people in our parish who are very devoted to Matt and look forward to the day he would be beatified.”
Ven. Matt Talbot was a Dubliner who overcame alcoholism and devoted himself to a service of God and Our Lady. Though his fame spread mostly after his death, Fr O’Donnell said even in his life he was seen as a holy man.
“Matt’s spiritual director used tell people, if I have an intention I need prayer for, I’ll go to Matt,” Fr O’Donnell said.