The Bridegroom's Undoer of Knots

“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!  You whose glory above the heavens is chanted by the mouth of babies and infants, you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.  When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have established; what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? … You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet…”  Psalm 8  

All that the Father has, He gives to The Son, and The Son can share and give authority as He desires.  And so, He gives this to His Mother, Mary.  This is precisely how Mary, in her title as The Undoer of Knots, shows her care for us.  In the undoing or untying of the knots which bind us and keep us from being in full communion with her Son, she comes swiftly to our aid because the Bridegroom has given her this mission.

Isn’t it just like God to ordain this beautifully for us?  He knows what our hearts need, what our hearts desire, and for what our hearts are yearning and through His most divine will, He allows the untying of these knots through His most blessed Mother, the spouse of the Holy Spirit.  With her gentle love, her tender heart, and the work of her hands, we can bring our knots to her and she will lovingly work through them with and for us.  Reflecting on this particular Psalm, we can see how the “works of your hands” and the “work of your fingers” is in connection with Mary and the work of her hands and fingers in the loosening and untying of the knots in our lives.  The Bridegroom, in His all-consuming love of the Bride, His Church, gives Mary this powerful intercessory ability to reach out into the tightest of knots, and gently loosen them until they are finally opened and can allow the flow of our lives to resume and flourish.  

Who is Mary, as the Undoer of Knots?  The original painting depicts Our Lady untying the knots of a white wedding ribbon and was commissioned in the year 1700, by a priest in thanksgiving to Mary for her special intervention in his family.  Around 1615, the priest’s grandfather discovered that his wife was planning to divorce him.  In an effort to save his marriage, he sought advice from a priest who had a strong Marian devotion.  The couple met several times with the priest for counsel and on one of the visits, the husband brought his wedding ribbon and gave it to the priest. It was the custom of the time that during the wedding ceremony, the maid of honor would join the arms of the bride and groom with the white ribbon as a symbol of their lifelong union.  The priest took the ribbon and raised it up before an image of Mary known as “Our Lady of the Snows” and proceeded to untie the knots.  When he finished untying the last knot, the ribbon suddenly became dazzling white.  The priest interpreted this as a confirmation that Mary had heard his prayers for the couple.  There was no further pursuit of the divorce and the couple remained happily married.

Eighty-five years later, to commemorate this, the family of the couple commissioned a painting to be hung in their Church.  The painter, hearing of this story, based his painting on the image of Mary untying knots.  Having survived wars, revolutions and secular opposition, the painting still hangs in the same Church in Germany.  

Devotion to Mary under this title was originally unique to Germany, but after the Chernobyl Nuclear plant disaster of 1986, the devotion became widespread throughout Europe.  The victims of this disaster sought the intercession of Mary, Undoer of Knots, and eventually the first chapel to be given this name was built in Austria.

St. Irenaeus was the first to reference Our Lady as the Undoer of Knots.  St. Irenaeus died about the year 200, and in his famous work entitled “Against Heresies” he wrote, 

“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.”  

Pope Francis has been one of the greatest promoters of this particular devotion to Mary.  He discovered the image while in Germany doing his doctoral studies and was drawn to the symbolism and simplicity of the image and took postcards of the image back to Argentina with him.  He later had paintings hung in chapels and churches in order to spread the devotion.  And we are able to call upon Mary, The Undoer of Knots, to offer our particular knots to the one who has such great love for all her children, that she beautifully assists and accompanies us as those knots are loosened and undone.

Let us pray… 

We give you, Mary, our knots, our difficulties, our worries, our anxieties and all that binds us and keeps us tied up, bound and far away from Christ.  May you, as The Undoer, gracefully and completely untie each of our knots and may we give these knots fully and with complete trust to you who is the Mediatrix of all graces.  Thank you, Jesus, for the gift of Your Holy Mother, who cares for us in all our knotted ways. 

 “Mother of fair love, I look to You.  Take into your hands the ribbon of my life, and see the snarl of knots that keeps me bound to sin, anxiety and hopelessness.  I beg you, Mother, by your powerful intercession and long fingers of love and grace, undo the knots in my heart and in my life.  Free me to love as Christ loves.”

Mary, Undoer of Knots, pray for us.  Amen.

Nicky Verna, Copyright 2025