Safeguarding the Virgin Untying Knots

FRUIT: Sacramental.

• The Untied Virgin is the counselor who helps marriages and families.
• Its image shows the Immaculate Conception receiving a knotted ribbon from the hands of an angel. She unties them and passes the smooth ribbon into the hands of another angel.
• The Image of Maria Knotenlöserin is a baroque painting by Johann Georg dating from the 1700s and venerated in the Church of St. Peter am Perlach in Augsburg, Germany.
• The devotion to Mary under this invocation had its origin in the marital problems of a nobleman of the time named Wolfang Langenmantel, who attributed to the Virgin the miracle of having avoided his imminent divorce.
• In his affliction, the nobleman sought a venerable and wise Jesuit priest to pray for him and advise him how to resolve his marital problems.
• At the time, the tradition was that during the wedding ceremony, the godmothers joined the arms of the bride and groom with a ribbon, which represented the bond of spousal love and the blessing of God, which united the couple in holy matrimony.
• When he spiritually advised that nobleman, Father Jakob invoked the Virgin Mary, and in a kind of ritual, while praying with faith, he raised the marriage ribbon from his wedding and smoothed it, untying all the knots one by one.
• After this act of faith, the noble Wolfang experienced many favorable changes in the family home: the spouses had peace and understanding.
• Years later, in thanksgiving for this favor granted and in commemoration of the year 1700, a son and a grandson of the spouses donated to the Church of Saint Peter am Perlach, an altarpiece with the image of the Immaculate Conception untying the knots of a ribbon, symbol of the problems of married life, and in general, of all the obstacles and difficulties that overwhelm us in life, preventing us from feeling the serenity and peace that Jesus Christ gives us (John 14, 27).
• Pope Francis, a great devotee of the Untied Virgin, in an emotional event in the Vatican gardens, prayed the rosary in front of her image on May 31, 2021. There he begged her to undo the knots of suffering, loneliness, and domestic violence. , confinement and economic problems as a result of the pandemic.