09/28/2026
Feast of Our Lady Undoer of Knots.
September 28 th
The name of a Marian devotion and the quote associated with this title of Mary comes from St. Irenaeus, “Eve, by her disobedience, tied the knot of disgrace for the human race; whereas Mary, by her obedience, undid it.”
Whereas other titles of Mary, including Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Fatima, and Our Lady of Knock, began with apparitions of Mary, this title of Mary, undoer of Knots began when her intercession led to resolution and healing in a marriage. Although St. Irenaeus developed this concept of Mary undoing the knots of Eve’s disobedience in the second century; devotion to this title of Mary grew in the 17th century.
The painting depicting Our Lady untying the knots of a white wedding ribbon was commissioned around 1700 by Fr. Hieronymus Ambrosius Langenmantel in thanksgiving for her intervention in his family. And was painted by German artist Johann Melchior Georg Schmittdner It measures six feet in height and almost four feet in width. The painting has survived wars, revolutions, and secular opposition, and continues to draw people to it.The knots represent all the troubles and trials in our lives and our sins which separate us from God.
In the eighteenth century the devotion to Mary Untier of Knots was localized to Germany. The devotion was augmented during the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster (1986), when victims sought help through the intercession of Mary Untier of Knots. The first chapel to be named Mary Untier of Knots was constructed in 1989 in Styria, Austria.
Our Lady Undoer of Knots or Our Lady Untier of Knots, is a favorite of Pope Francis. While studying in Germany in the 1980s, he discovered this devotion at the Church of St. Peter am Perlach in Augsburg. In the church, there is the painting “Untier of Knots.” which depicts Mary in heaven surrounded by angels. She stands on the crescent moon crushing the head of the serpent, Satan. She holds a long ribbon and is untying a large knot, one of several on the ribbon. As archbishop of Buenos Aires, he introduced and encouraged the devotion to Our Lady, Undoer of Knots.
On December 8, 2000, a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary Untier of Knots was inaugurated in Formosa, Argentina. Since 1998, the devotion has been spreading in South America thanks to the booklet, Mary, Undoer of Knots Novena, published with ecclesiastical permission. In his papacy, Pope Francis has made this devotion even more popular in the Christian world. In May of 2021, Pope Francis called on Mary, Undoer of Knots, for her intercession at the end of the global Rosary to end the pandemic.
The original narrative of Our Lady under this title begins in 1612 in Augsburg, Bavaria in Germany. Wolfgang Langenmantel and Sophia Rentz, husband and wife, belonged to the nobility and were on the verge of a divorce. Over a period of twenty-eight days, Wolfgang sought help from Jakob Rem, a Jesuit priest who prayed with him to Our Lady to untie the knots of their marital problems.
Wolfgang brought his wedding ribbon to their last meeting on September 28, 1615. This wedding ribbon had been tied around his wife and him on their wedding day to symbolize their unity in marriage. Father Rem lifted the ribbon up to an image of Our Lady of the Snows asking for the knots in Wolfgang’s marriage to be untied.
The ribbon became extremely white and the story concludes with Wolfgang and Sophie’s marriage enduring, with the divorce did not taking place, and together the couple lived a peaceful married life. Years later, to commemorate this turn of events, their grandson, Fr. Hieronymus Langenmantel of St. Peter’s Monastery in Augsburg, commissioned the painting, “Untier of Knots.”
It is an image that includes the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove above Mary. She is surrounded by angels and the angel on her left is handing her the knotted white ribbon and the angel on her right is receiving the unknotted ribbon that she has undone. Mary is stepping on and crushing the head of the serpent.bBelow 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.
Our Lady, Undoer of Knots, Pray for us!
