Got Knots?

I know that today is the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, but today I feel called to share with you the history of a different title of Mary that many people may not be as familiar with:  Our Lady Undoer of Knots.   Apparently, this Marian devotion is not a new one, and it is one that our current pope loves and recommends to all the faithful.  I recently completed a novena to Our Lady Undoer of Knots, and I can say with confidence that if you have knots in your life that you just can't seem to untie no matter how many different ways you have tried to undo them, try turning to Our Lady, Undoer of Knots.  I can tell that she is gently untying many knots in my life, and I know she will for anyone who asks her with trust.  There is a beautiful history behind this title of Mary and the painting that goes along with it.  Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia:

Mary Undoer of Knots is the name of both a Marian devotion and a German Baroque painting which represents that devotion. The painting by Johann Georg Melchior Schmidtner, of around 1700, is in the Catholic pilgrimage church of St. Peter am Perlach in Augsburg, Germany. Pope Francis saw the image while in Germany as a student and promoted her veneration in Latin America.

The painting shows the Blessed Virgin Mary standing on the crescent moon (the usual way of depicting Mary under her title of the Immaculate Conception), surrounded by angels and with the Holy Spirit Dove hovering above her circle of stars as she unties knots into a long strip and at the same time rests her foot on the head of a "knotted" snake. The serpent represents the Devil, and her treatment of him fulfills the prophecy in Genesis 3:15: "[thy seed] shall bruise the serpent’s head".

Below are shown a human figure and his dog accompanying a much smaller angel. This scene is often interpreted as Tobias with his dog and the Archangel Raphael traveling to ask Sara to be his wife. The two small figures have also been interpreted as a representation of Wolfgang Langenmantel, the grandfather of the benefactor, guided in his marital distress by a guardian angel to receive guidance from Father Jakob Rem in Ingolstadt.

The painting was donated around 1700 by Hieronymus Ambrosius Langenmantel (1641 – 1718), a canon of the Monastery of Saint Peterin Augsburg. The donation is said to be connected with an event in his family. His grandfather Wolfgang Langenmantel (1586 – 1637) was on the verge of the separation from his wife Sophia Rentz (1590 – 1649) and therefore sought help from Jakob Rem, the Jesuit priest in Ingolstadt. Father Rem prayed to the Blessed Virgin Mary and said: “In diesem religiösen Akt erhebe ich das Band der Ehe, löse alle Knoten und glätte es [In this religious act, I raise the bonds of matrimony, to untie all knots and smoothen them]”. Immediately peace was restored between the husband and wife, and the separation did not happen. In the memory of this event, their grandson commissioned the painting of the “Untier of Knots”.

The concept of Mary untying knots is derived from a work by St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Adversus haereses (Against Heresies). In Book III, Chapter 22, he presents a parallel between Eve and Mary, describing how "the knot of Eve's disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin Eve had bound fast through unbelief, this did the virgin Mary set free through faith." 


Here is the powerful prayer that many faithful Catholics are now praying when they have a difficult knot (or many knots!!!) in their life that they would like Mary's help to untie:

“Virgin Mary, Mother of fair love, Mother who never refuses to come to the aid of a child in need, Mother whose hands never cease to serve your beloved children because they are moved by the divine love and immense mercy that exists in your heart, cast your compassionate eyes upon me and see the snarl of knots that exist in my life. You know very well how desperate I am, my pain, and how I am bound by these knots. Mary, Mother to whom God entrusted the undoing of the knots in the lives of His children, I entrust into your hands the ribbon of my life. No one, not even the Evil One himself, can take it away from your precious care. In your hands, there is no knot that cannot be undone. Powerful Mother, by your grace and intercessory power with your Son and my liberator, Jesus, take into your hands today this knot. (Mention your petition here.)

I beg you to undo it for the glory of God, once for all. You are my hope. O my Lady, you are the only consolation God gives me, the fortification of my feeble strength, the enrichment of my destitution, and, with Christ, the freedom from my chains. Hear my plea. Keep me, guide me, protect me, O safe refuge.”