TALBOT, MATTHEW. - Labourer, b. in Dublin on 2 May 1856, d. there on 7 June 1925.
Raised in very straitened family circumstances and obliged from the age of 12 to earn his living by work, he was a manual labourer and porter in the docks; little by little he gave himself over to the vice of drink and, despite his family’s admonitions, persisted in it for 15 years, even neglecting works of piety and the Sacraments. Converted in 1884, he devoted himself to a most austere life of profound piety. He gave up intoxicating drinks; he fasted almost throughout the year, taking his scant food on his knees; he distributed almost all his wages to good works, retaining only what was necessary to live; he slept on bare boards, spending a good part of the night in prayer. He was also a Franciscan tertiary. Death overtook him as he was going to church for Sunday Mass. His cause of beatification was introduced on 28 Feb. 1947.