WHY THE TITLE “MARY UNTIER OF KNOTS?

To all Marian devotions, a title seems to be added, such as a place or a city where she is located such as in Lujan, in Tepeyac (Our Lady of Guadalupe), Our Lady of the Pillar, of Fatima, Our Lady of Czestochowa, etc.
            Our Lady’s transit through our own times, has acquire many facets, in were she makes apparent her great and beneficial influence over her devotees. Even amongst the devotees of the Virgin Mary Untier of Knots, this question will sometimes arise: How many Virgin Mary’s do we have? And the answer is: There is only one Virgin Mary with endless characteristics, and since she is the Mother of God the Son, she also possesses divine and miraculous attributes.

           There are also titles based on bodily attitude, action, attribute or intention such as in (Our Lady of the Rosary, of Loreto, The Queen of Peace, Our Lady of Sorrows, Our Helper, Mother thrice admirable, etc.) In the case of Our own devotion, the title comes from an attitude: To Untie Knots (Maria Knotenloserin) “knot” means knot in German and “loser” “loserin” means to “undo” to “untie” It is likely that this was not the original title, it was only a name given for church records. 
           As I mention in the research I made of this painting, it was made for the donor for personal and family reasons for a particular family altar that depicted a synthesis of a story of his grandparents.

SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY

«According to the research of this image, we find that the donor Hieronymus Ambrosius Langenmantel, priest and canon law doctor from (1666-1709) of St. Peter am Perlach, had ordered this painting for a family altar, for personal reasons linked to his family. 
           In the history of this true story, the noble Wolfgang Langenmantel married to Sophie Imoff (1612) and on the verge of a divorce, pays a visit to Jakob Rem J.P. in a monastery and university of Ingolstadt, located seventy kilometers north of Augsburg.
           A total of “four” visits were made to this priest in a lapse of “28 days” in where he received advice from this venerable Jesuit priest, a priest already honored for his wisdom, piety, extraordinary intelligence and known for having a Marian apparition in where he compliments Our Lady with the title of “Thrice admirable” ( Mater Ter Admirabilis). The noble was able to achieve changes in his family situation, as the result of prayer and the veneration of the Virgin Mary and in the company of the wise priest.
           Consequently on September 28th 1615 and the last day of their prayer, father Rem had been praying before an image of the Virgin Mary under the title of ( Our Lady of the Snows) located in the chapel of the monastery. “In a solemn ritual act”, Father Rem elevates the wedding ribbon untying the knots one by one and smoothing the ribbon out (1), causing the white ribbon to become such an intense bright, that not even the palette of any painter could have reproduced. With this experience the couple was able to avoid a divorce and their marriage was able to continue.
           Hieronymus and his grandson decide to donate a family altar, in commemoration of the turn of the century of the year 1700 as was the tradition in St. Peter am Perlach. The Altar piece was dedicated to “The Blessed Virgins of Good Counsel”, in it, is the story of his own family. 
           The painter, Johann Melchior Georg Schmittdner, depicts the painting as a Virgin Mary who is “untying” the knots of the ribbon of married life, as the worried noble Wolfgang, walks towards the monastery accompanied by the Archangel Raphael.

           Iconography studies have shown clearly that the element referred to the written tradition in Genesis is non- existent (“the knot that Eve tied, Mary untied”) It is possible that due to the lack of knowledge of its true origin, this meaning was attributed to the painting. 
           In it Mary is shown as a Holy Women, as a helper and to give counsel to families.  She is shown as Advocate, Helper, Mediatrix before Our Lord Son of God.

If Mary, who unties knots, facilitates to us with her help the solution to untie the complex tangled webs of marriage: Who better than her to untie all the knots of our life! Due to the respect we have for the devotees of the Virgin Mary, is that we now bring to you the real facts, so that the lack of knowledge does not degenerate into any “mysterious origins” that always lead to false interpretations and magic and esoteric deviations.
          Information on this research and its results are at the disposal of our church pastors, for a sound catechesis.»[1] 

When the story, the donor, its descendents and the altar piece disappeared, the painting stayed behind as an antique in the Church of St. Peter am Perlach in Augsburg. The painting was also located for some years in the Discalced Carmelite Convent of this same city in 1920. 
         There was never any devotion or devotees of Maria Knotenloserin, even to this day; this devotion is not very well known in Germany or in Europe.
          It is now beginning to be known because of the spread of the devotion I have done from (1999- 2006) in Germany, Europe and many other countries in the world. Up until the year 2005,The Archdioceses of Augsburg was still writing that the painter was unknown. 
          Now days, they do know about the story that I wrote, and the painting is now placed in high honors in the information documents of the Jesuits and of St. Peter am Perlach. 
          In addition to this, the Vatican has also authorized the use of the image for Vatican publishing. After going back and forth with the Roman Curia, I am very grateful to the ecclesial authorities for silently recognizing our own devotion to the Virgin Mary.

THE VIRGIN MARY MANIFEST HERSELF

Thru the spread of the devotion, thousands of followers of The Virgin Mary Untier of Knots have generated, they come to ask for her intercession for all our problems (knots) that show up daily in these recent years. These so called knots in addition to being marriage problems they also extend to a whole spectrum of unusual diversity. We come to her for health, work, disputes, for all complications in the family, for our interior personal problems, conflicts in the community and in the countries. 
           The XXI century is were the biggest problems generate from, in quantity and in quality. As a result of this fast modern life our problems have become more complex.

            The problems that are known to produce many knots are provoked by diverse situations, just like the woman that has to go out and work or the woman that becomes the head of her household, other problems include the youth that does not look into the future and becomes submerge in alcohol or drugs. 
           There are also problems of fear; Fear paralyzes a person causing panic attacks, phobias, stress, terrible depressions that can make life a living hell. To all these we should also add the problem of the lack of security provoked by crime, by corruption in our governments and little or no challenge on the part of our own church. 
           For all these evils we have very few doctors. The lack of priest is yet another manifestation of the lack of priestly vocations. These same young men that might have the intention to enter into the religious life also suffer from these same problems in their family and in the environment. 
           Many governors, business people, catholic groups and organizations etc… have already place themselves under the protection of the Virgin Mary Untier of Knots. In every instance when a person is entangled with problems and the environment turns it into a knotted web, a (Gordian Knots) is formed, others knots are also formed, knots that came before or after the central knot. 
           In the painting of this devotion, the knots were the problems in the marriage of Wolfgang and Sophie.

It is like when a ball of yarn gets tangled, and it is impossible to untangle because of our impatience; it is sort of speak, as difficult to solve as a “Gordian knot”. In many cases the solving of the puzzle is so difficult that is destroyed. 
           According to tradition, the person who would solve the puzzle of Gordian knot (a legend of that time) would be able to conquer the Orient. Alejandro Magno (356-323 AC) facing this problem in (333 AC) cut the knot with his sword and said: “It is just the same to cut it or to untie it. Although Alejandro conquers the Orient, by cutting the knot, he lost the “rope” by making the rope pieces useless.

When in desperation, impatience or carelessness, we decide to cut the Gordian knot of our problems, we will destroy everything that conforms to our life and all its complications. For this reason we have to make conscience that we first we need to analyze on how we have created these terrible “knots” that anguish us. 
          We need to reconsider and reconstruct the story of that complicated situation. Meditate and think in which way you can start to untie the knots without cutting the ribbon.

The first thing we need to do is to place ourselves under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, our help, our advocate and our intercessor. Thru prayer and meditation, you will be able to see how those knots were “made” and the reason why they were made. 
         You will be able to see how you and your surroundings formed the knots (creating the problem or problems). This is how you will see the hopeful panorama. In reality what drives us crazy is not to know the reason for the complicated situation. Once you are calm and always in prayer- meditation, ask Our Lady for help. 
         You should have an adult attitude and never think that if you “‘if you memorize and pray 50 rosaries’”, your problems will disappear magically. Prayer should be made always savoring each word you say. 
         One by One you will untie every knot. Start with the simplest knots, so that you may have more clarity until you reach the main one. This is the reason why I insist on the goodness of patience. We need to use self criticism, analyze ourselves and pray. Prayer is beneficial and it gives us the determination to continue. 
          Maybe the most important thing is that you know that she , Our Lady, will “NOT” untie your knots, she will counsel you, she will be your advocate, mediatrix, but YOU will need to act by solving the problem or problems “ untying the knot or knots”. I repeat, “Patience” is a virtue, faith should be blind.

ABOUT THE VENERATION

When someone makes use of this miraculous image to ask for a banal petition or for esoteric use, it is as if you pierced one more sword at the heart of Our Beloved Lady. If you honor, venerate (not worship) and proclaim her beatitudes you will make the Mother of Jesus Christ joyful and she will turn her merciful eyes towards you.
           You should also keep in mind, that the solution to “all” problems may leave consequences in some knots, consequences that will stay until the end of times. But as a reward you will gain experience so that you may not generate knots again and also so that you may pass this experience to your brothers and sisters.

           When we “untie the knots”, a horizon of hope opens up for us. We will feel free of all binds and we will live with more intensity each minute of our life, with joy and strength to face adversity.
“Mary always helps”!! Professor Weiss use to tell me in German. At eighty years old Professor Weiss has painted a recent version of Maria Als Knotenloserin, in Austria.

With faith, conviction and respect: Pray, meditate, petition, sing to the Virgin Mary, and you will be happy, you will really feel the desire to live.
Amen

Mario H. Ibertis Rivera – Servant of Our Virgin Mary Mother of Jesus Christ. In the Third Millennium - November 2006, Buenos Aires Argentina.

PS: I find myself in the very difficult task of convincing the Vatican authorities to include the name “Untier of Knots” in the Litany of Loreto. For these reason ,next year I will need your support to strengthen this request. 
 

Note 1: (*) The ribbon was placed by the maid of honor to represent an invisible union of the bride and the groom for the rest of their life. Their arms were joined together during the wedding ceremony.
Note 2: According to legend, a peasant by the name of Gordius (this is were the name comes from) who lived in  Gordium (currently Anatolia) tied the ropes of his ox cart into a knot that was impossible to untie. 

Mario H. Ibertis Rivera November 14th, 1999
(Information data: research on Maria Knotenloserin, The True History by Mario H. Ibertis Rivera © 1999)