Mary, Untier of Knots or Mary, Undoer of Knots is the name of both a Marian devotion and a Baroque painting (German: Wallfahrtsbild or Gnadenbild) 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, otherwise known as the Perlach church, in Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany. Pope Francis saw the image while in Germany as a student and promoted her veneration in Latin America.
Painting
The painting, executed in the Baroque style by Johann Georg Melchior Schmidtner (1625-1707), 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 in the form of a 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: "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
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 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."
The two small figures have also been interpreted as a representation of Wolfgang Langenmantel, the grandfather of the benefactor, guided in his distress by a guardian angel to Father Jakob Rem in Ingolstadt.
History
The painting was donated around 1700 by Hieronymus Ambrosius Langenmantel (1641-1718), a canon of the Monastery of Saint Peter in 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".
Devotion
The first Chapel to be named "Mary, Untier of Knots" was completed in 1989 in Styria, Austria, inspired as a supplication in response to the Chernobyl Nuclear Tragedy. The image of "Mary, Undoer of Knots" is especially venerated in Argentina and Brazil, where churches have been named for her and devotion to her has become widespread and which the Guardian called a "religious craze".
This Catholic devotion has grown since Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J. (who would later become Pope Francis, after a tenure as Archbishop of Buenos Aires), brought a postcard of the painting to Argentina in the 1980s after seeing the original while studying in Germany. The devotion reached Brazil near the end of the 20th century. According to Regina Novaes, of the Institute of Religious Studies in Rio de Janeiro, Mary, Untier of Knots "attracts people with small problems". Bergoglio had this image of Mary engraved on a chalice he presented to Pope Benedict XVI and another chalice bearing her image, the work of the same silversmith, is to be presented to Pope Francis on behalf of the Argentine people.
In Buenos Aires, a copy of the icon was made and left by the artist, Dr. Ana de Betta Berti, for the Church of San José del Talar, which has had it since 8 December 1996. On the 8th of each month, thousands of people make the pilgrimage to this church.
Religious sites
The devotion to Mary, the Untier of Knots, can be found at numerous religious sites around the world, including the following:
- Tregist-Voitsberg (Austria): village chapel in the Tregisttal, designed by Franz Weiss
- Landskron (Austria): Church of St. Mary of Landskron, church window by Daniel Moser
- Oberriet (Switzerland): Rietkapelle [German, "Riet Chapel"]
- Formosa (Argentina): Chapel of Maria Nuestra Señora Desatadora de Nudos
- San Miguel de Tucumán (Argentina): Church of Maria Immaculata [Spanish, "Mary of the Immaculate Conception"]
- Buenos Aires (Argentina): Church of San José del Talar
- Buenos Aires (Argentina): Fatima Chapel
- Buenos Aires (Argentina): St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Chapel
- Temperley â€" Province of Buenos Aires (Argentina): Chapel of the Asunción de MarÃa SantÃsima [Spanish, "Assumption of Most Holy Mary"]
- Comodoro Rivadavia (Argentina): A branch church of the parish of Santa LucÃa is dedicated to "Nuestra Señora de Knotenlöserin"
- Campinas, Brazil: Sanctuary of "Nossa Senhora Desatadora dos Nós"
- Lima (Peru): Chapel and Park of la Señora del Buen Consejo [Spanish, "Our Lady of Good Counsel"]
- Del Rio, Texas (United States) : Saint Joseph’s Chapel
- Lviv, Ukraine. Saint John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church.
- Novaliches, Quezon City, Philippines, in the Parish Church of Kristong Hari (Christ the King) and future Shrine of the Youth. Located along the National Government Center, Commonwealth Avenue. Monthly gatherings especially by the Youth happen on the 8th of each month with a 6 PM Mass followed by a solemn procession by Our Lady. Thursdays are also offered to her as devotion days in this place. The Commission on Youth of the Diocese of Novaliches is one of the primemovers of this devotion.
Title in other languages
Mary, Untier of Knots, has different names in other languages:
- English: Mary, Untier of Knots; Mary, Undoer of Knots; Mary who Unties the Knots
- German: Maria Knotenlöserin
- French: Marie qui défait les NÅ"uds
- Italian: Maria che Scioglie i Nodi
- Polish: Maria Rozwiązująca Węzły
- Portuguese: Maria Desatadora dos Nós, Nossa Senhora Desatadora dos Nós
- Spanish: MarÃa Desatanudos; MarÃa, Desatadora de Nudos; MarÃa, la que Desata los Nudos
- Hungarian: A csomókat feloldó Mária
- Croatian: Marija koja razvezuje Ävorove
- Chinese: 解çµè–æ¯ç'ªåˆ©äºž
- Filipino: Maria, Tagakalag ng mga Buhol ng Buhay; in the Diocese of Novaliches, when Bishop Tobias launched this devotion (12/08/15) in an effort to bring the Youth closer to Mary, he coined the name "Inang Desay" as a word of endearment for her.
See also
- Marian devotions
- Turamichele, fighting the Archangel Michael at the Perlach-Tower
- Girdle of Thomas
References
External links
- Virgin Mary, Untier of Knots (International Fraternity)
- Mary, Undoer of Knots (US and Canada)
- The Holy Grail of Pope Francis: Our Lady of Lujan and Undoer of Knots (Blog: Mary Victrix)
- If life has become a bit knotted, turn to Mary - Maria Knotenlöserin is a favorite of Pope Francis - (TheCompass, November 19, 2013)
- The Blessed Virgin Mary, Untier of Knots - (Thinking Faith, 21 May 2013)
- Book of Tobit (Apocrypha) (eBible, King James Version)
- (in German) Official Website of the Church of St. Peter am Perlach
- (in German) Mary, Untier of Knots: Links between Augsburg and Buenos Aires
- (in Portuguese) Maria Desatadora dos Nós (Brazil)
- (in Portuguese) Prayer to Nossa Senhora Desatadora dos Nós (Brazil)
- (in Spanish) Maria Desatanudos
