BRIEF HISTORY ON THE DEVOTION TO OUR LADY UNDOER OF KNOTS
Most humans have a hard time undoing knots. And knots which seem impossible to untie exist figuratively in our lives. They seem impossible at least until we recognize the special ability that Our Lady has to undo them through her powerful intercession. And although devotion to her under this title is relatively new (about 30 years old) testimonies have ensured that it has spread throughout the Catholic world.
Devotion to Our Lady Undoer of Knots did not, like many other Marian devotions, emerge after some apparition of the Blessed Virgin. The story begins in 1612, when a German couple who struggled to get on with each other sought the counsel of a priest, Fr. Jakob Rem. On their last visit to him, he held their wedding ribbon against an image of “Our Lady of Snows” and while untying it, prayed thus; “I raise up the bond of marriage, that all knots be loosed and resolved”. The untied ribbon then became bright white, signaling our Lady’s intercession. The couple’s marriage was saved. Safe to say, their knot was undone.
Exactly 374 years later, in 1986, an Argentinian Jesuit priest, Father Jorge, who was studying for his doctorate in Germany entered the Church of St. Peter am Perlach in Augsburg where he became enthralled by an image of the Blessed Virgin surrounded by angels with the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove above her. She was undoing a white ribbon and crushing a serpent with her heel. (cf. 12:1).
27 years later, Father Jorge became Pope, and among the first things he did was to pay a visit to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and place his tenure as Pope in her hands. It came as no surprise to those who knew him before then as the man who had brought the little known, but powerful devotion to his fatherland, Argentina, and from there to the whole world!
The devotion to Our Lady Undoer of Knots enjoin us all to turn to our Lady to undo the knots of our life which are caused by sin. And according to Lumen Gentium, 56, Mary’s faith unties the knot of sin. So we too need to have faith, like Mary who through her unwavering faith, said yes to God in obedience, allowing him to undo the “knot of the ancient disobedience” that damned us, bringing us his salvation ultimately.
Through the intercession of Our Lady, Undoer of Knots, may the salvation wrought by God through Mary’s ‘yes’ filter into the various aspects of our lives and untie the knots that plague us. Amen!
Our Lady, Undoer of Knots… Pray for us!