The devotion to Mary, Undoer of Knots, is associated with the Baroque painting by Johann Georg Melchior Schmidtner, completed around 1700 and venerated in the church of St. Peter am Perlach in Augsburg, Germany. Its symbolism echoes St. Irenaeus, who taught that the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by Mary’s obedience. Pope Francis encountered this devotion while studying in Germany and later helped spread it in Argentina and beyond. Catholics pray this prayer when relationships, duties, sins, fears, or other difficulties seem tangled beyond their power to resolve. They ask Mary to place these knots before Christ and to intercede for grace, freedom, and faithful perseverance.
Virgin Mary, Mother of fair love,
Mother who never refuses to come to the aid of a child in need,
Mother whose hands never cease to serve your beloved children
because they are moved by the divine love
and immense mercy that exist in your heart,
cast your compassionate eyes upon me
and see the snarl of knots that exists in my life.
You know very well how desperate I am,
my pain, and how I am bound by these knots.
Mary, Mother to whom God entrusted the undoing of the knots
in the lives of his children,
I entrust into your hands the ribbon of my life.
No one, not even the Evil One himself,
can take it away from your precious care.
In your hands there is no knot that cannot be undone.
Powerful Mother, by your grace and intercessory power
with Your Son and My Liberator, Jesus,
take into your hands today this knot.
(Mention your request here.)
I beg you to undo it for the glory of God,
once for all.
You are my hope.
O my Lady, you are the only consolation God gives me,
the fortification of my feeble strength,
the enrichment of my destitution,
and, with Christ, the freedom from my chains.
Hear my plea.
Keep me, guide me, protect me,
O safe refuge!
Mary, Undoer of Knots, pray for me.
When to pray it: Pray this prayer when asking Our Lady’s intercession for a difficult, persistent, or seemingly tangled problem.
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