Johann Georg Melchior Schmidtner / Wikimedia Commons
CV NEWS FEED // Pope Francis had a profound devotion to Mary, Undoer of Knots, a Marian title that portrays the Virgin Mary as one who helps untangle the complexities and challenges — referred to as “knots” — in the lives of the faithful.
The devotion itself originated in Augsburg, Germany, around 1700, inspired by a painting by Johann Georg Melchior Schmidtner. The artwork depicts the Virgin Mary untying knots from a ribbon, symbolizing her role in resolving the difficulties and sins that entangle believers’ lives.
The imagery is rooted in the writings of St. Irenaeus of Lyons, who stated: “… 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 story behind Schmidtner’s painting dates back to 1612, when a German nobleman, Wolfgang Langenmantel, and his wife, Sophie Imoff, were on the brink of divorce. Seeking to save their marriage, Langenmantel sought guidance from Jesuit priest Father Jacob Rem. During their final meeting, Fr. Rem took the couple’s wedding ribbon — a symbol of their union — and, while praying before an image of the Virgin Mary, untied the knots in the ribbon until it became perfectly smooth. The couple reconciled, and their descendants later commissioned the painting to commemorate the event.
While studying in Germany during the 1980s, then-Father Jorge Mario Bergoglio encountered a postcard featuring the “Mary, Undoer of Knots” painting. Moved by its representation, he brought a copy back to Argentina and began promoting the devotion. Under his guidance, it gained significant popularity among Argentinian Catholics.
His advocacy led to a global increase in the devotion’s popularity, with many turning to Mary for assistance in resolving personal “knots.” Later, as Cardinal Bergoglio, he had an image of Our Lady, Undoer of Knots, engraved on a chalice, which he presented as a gift to Pope Benedict XVI.
As Pope Francis, he continued to promote this devotion. In 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he led a prayer marathon that ended with the crowning of a statue of Our Lady, Undoer of Knots, in the Vatican Gardens as he prayed for her intercession during the global crisis.
Pope Francis also reflected on the meaning of the devotion in a homily delivered in St. Peter’s Square in 2013. He compared sin to a knot, explaining that disobedience to God creates knots within the human heart — knots that can steal peace and create confusion.
“When we do not listen to him, when we do not follow his will, we do concrete things that demonstrate our lack of trust in him — for that is what sin is — and a kind of knot is created deep within us,” Pope Francis said. He reassured the faithful that, “Nothing is impossible for God’s mercy! Even the most tangled knots are loosened by his grace.”
Mary’s obedience, he said, opened the door for God to undo humanity’s ancient knot of disobedience.
“All the knots of our heart, every knot of our conscience, can be undone,” Pope Francis said. “Do I ask Mary to help me trust in God’s mercy, to undo those knots, to change? She, as a woman of faith, will surely tell you: ‘Get up, go to the Lord: he understands you.’ And she leads us by the hand as a Mother, our Mother, to the embrace of our Father, the Father of mercies.”
