Page 7 - Salesian Bulletin 2016 [01] January-March

Matt’s Holy Door
Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, Sean McDermott Street, Dublin, Administered by the Salesians of Don Bosco.
Afeature of each Holy Year is the tradition of opening a Holy Door at St Peter’s and in the major Churches in Rome. In announcing the Holy Year 2016, Pope Francis asked that a Door of Mercy be opened in every Cathedral of the world and in Holy Shrines visited by large groups of pilgrims.
Matt Talbot was a poor worker born in a Dublin tenement on 2 May 1856. Poorly educated, he was a reg- ular drinker by the age of 14 and a confirmed alcoholic by the age of 16. He was only 28 when he made his basic life choice and changed his ways. His return to the sacraments gave him a deep experience of God’s infinite mercy, which transformed and sustained him. He died in a laneway on 7 June 1925, and was buried in a pauper’s grave. His story inspired the hearts of many. Such was the demand from the faithful that in 1931, Archbishop Edward J Byrne of Dublin, opened the Informative process for the Beatification of Matt Talbot.
deeply impressed by Matt and remarked upon the atmosphere of sanctity in his little flat at no. 18 Upper Rutland Street, stating that ‘one felt compelled to kneel and pray .’
Over the years the shrine of the Venerable Matt Talbot has attracted a large number of pilgrims not only from Ireland, but also from overseas. For this reason, the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Sean McDermott Street, Dublin, in which Matt Talbot’s remains are kept, has been designated by the Archbishop of Dublin to host a Holy Door during the Jubilee Year for the greater bene- fit of pilgrims. The opening of the Holy Door took place in a carol ser- vice on 16 December, with the par- ticipation of the Teen Spirit Youth Choir and the Romanian Choir.
On 29 June 1952 the remains of the Servant of God were removed from the grave where he had been buried to a vault in the central circle of Glasnevin beneath the O’Connell monument. One of those present had been an altar-boy in St Joseph’s Church Berkley Road where Matt used to pray; he was the President of Ireland, the late Sean T O'Kelly.
The International Eucharistic Congress of 1932 enabled pilgrims from around the world to hear about Matt. Among those pilgrims was a memorable visit by Cardinal Verdier Archbishop of Paris, who was
In 1972 Matt’s remains were once again moved, this time to a purpose- built shrine of Wicklow granite in the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, Sean McDermott Street, the parish in which Matt had lived at 18, Upper Rutland Street. On 3 October 1975 Matt was declared venerable by Pope Paul VI. SDB 7
PHOTO: RICHARD EBEJER