A Marriage Nearly Undone
The story of this devotion begins in the late 17th century, in Germany. Wolfgang Langenmantel and his wife Sophia Rentz faced a marriage on the brink of collapse, already planning to separate. Wolfgang turned to the Jesuit priest Jakob Rem, asking for counsel and prayer.
Tradition holds that Father Rem took the ribbon used in the couple's wedding ceremony — full of knots, a symbol of the relationship's difficulties — and presented it before an image of Our Lady, asking her intercession to untie each knot of that marriage. Shortly after, the marriage was restored, and the couple remained together for the rest of their lives.
The Painting of Augsburg
Years later, Hieronymus Ambrosius Langenmantel, the couple's grandson, wished to immortalize in an image the grace his grandparents had received. Around 1700, he commissioned the painter Johann Georg Melchior Schmidtner to create a work depicting Mary's intercession: the Virgin appears surrounded by angels, carefully untying the knots of a long white ribbon, while stepping on the serpent's head — an image inspired by the Christian tradition that sees in Mary the one who undoes the "knot" of Eve's disobedience.
The original painting, known in German as Maria Knotenlöserin ("Mary Undoer of Knots"), remains to this day in St. Peter am Perlach Church, in Augsburg, Germany.
Centuries of Silence
Despite its beauty and profound meaning, the devotion remained for a long time confined to the Bavaria region, nearly forgotten outside Germany, known only to pilgrims and local faithful who visited the church of Perlach.
Rediscovery in Argentina
In the 1980s, a young Argentine Jesuit priest, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, traveled to Germany for his studies. Upon encountering the painting in Augsburg, he was captivated by the image, and upon returning to Argentina in 1986, he brought with him a reproduction of the painting.
Years later, now an influential priest in Buenos Aires, Bergoglio encouraged the devotion at the Church of San José del Talar, in the Agronomía neighborhood. From there, devotion to Our Lady Undoer of Knots spread rapidly throughout Argentina and, subsequently, through various Latin American countries, including Brazil.
A Pope and a Worldwide Devotion
In 2013, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected Pope, taking the name Francis. His well-known personal devotion to Our Lady Undoer of Knots helped bring this Marian image to churches and homes on every continent, making it one of the fastest-growing Marian devotions in recent decades.
Today, millions of faithful around the world pray asking Mary to untie the "knots" of their lives — family, financial, health, and spiritual difficulties — trusting in her motherly intercession with God.