A Dozen Steps

Matt Talbot

by Mark on January 21st, 2008

A couple of Hat Tips - the first to Glenn C. from the AA History Lovers Group at Yahoo! and the second to the Venerable Matt Talbot Resource Center written by John Blair.

As Glenn tells us;

“For those of you who are interested in the figure of Matt Talbot, a good scholar in A.A. history named John Blair has just started a website which brings together a enormous amount of material on him.”

John follows up with;

“Our purpose is to provide available information about the life, times, and alcoholism recovery approach of Matt Talbot to all who might be interested… Perhaps the best place to begin his story is to go to the official website, ‘The Matt Talbot Story.’“

Matt Talbot: His Life

Matt Talbot (1856 - 1925) was born in the poverty of Dublin’s inner city. He began drinking at twelve years of age and became a chronic alcoholic. It was the drug culture of the 19th century. Matt was an addict. After sixteen years he decided to ‘kick the habit’. A priest helped him, giving him a rehabilitation programme, which providentially incorporated the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. That was fifty years before AA was founded. After a horrendous struggle, he found sobriety through prayer and self-sacrifice. His Higher Power was the Christian God. He remained sober for forty years until his death. His life story has been an inspiration for alcoholics and addicts throughout the world. He is a candidate for canonization in the Catholic Church.

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