{"id":6959,"date":"2006-06-23T00:42:31","date_gmt":"2006-06-23T00:42:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/viamedia\/2006\/06\/mary-untier-of-knots.html"},"modified":"2006-06-23T00:42:31","modified_gmt":"2006-06-23T00:42:31","slug":"mary-untier-of-knots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2006\/06\/mary-untier-of-knots.html","title":{"rendered":"Mary, Untier of Knots"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the ACIN projects list, I found an appeal for help for a Brazilian parish called "Our Lady, Untier of Knots." Who could not be curious? <\/p>\n

This devotion is rooted in an 18th century Bavarian painting, with this history, according to a story in the Chicago Catholic paper:<\/a><\/p>\n

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An 18th century German painting hanging in a church in Bavaria for 300 years, depicts Mary with a long white ribbon. (In traditional German wedding ceremonies a couple\u2019s hands were bound in such a ribbon.) It seems a divorce loomed in a wealthy German family in the 1700s. A priest friend asked for this painting to be commissioned of our Blessed Mother undoing their \u201cknots\u201d of marital unhappiness. The couple eventually reunited and Johann Schmittdner\u2019s painting was forgotten. But 20 years ago a copy was brought to Argentina where devotion to \u201cMary Untier of Knots\u201d took on a life of its own, with fervor sometimes bordering on superstition.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Here’s a website dedicated to the devotion (I have no idea of how "official" it is)<\/a> and here’s a short piece about the devotion being introdued into a parish in Del Rio, TX<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The project appeal that set this knot of curiosity untying on my end:<\/span><\/p>\n

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The parish of Bem-Aventurado Joao Piamarta lies within the diocese of Macap\u00c3\u00a1, the capital of the northern federal state of Amp\u00c3\u00a1. It has some 40,00 inhabitants, the overwhelming majority of them<\/em> Catholics. Also within the parish is the new township of Marabaixo, which sprang up only in the last five years on the fringes of the town of Macap\u00c3\u00a1, and which now already has some 3,500 families living in it.. Most of these families are migrants from the underdeveloped hinterland. They are large families too, averaging between 6 and 10 children, and extremely poor as well. One of the poorest of these is the basic community of Marabaixo III, which has 2,500 families living in it. Until recently Mass had to be celebrated for the community in a school hall, until Father Rui Ari Pinheiro, one of the two priests in the parish, managed to build a new church, the church of Nossa Senhora Desatadora dos N\u00c3\u00b3s (Our Lady the Untier of Knots) – in just seven months and with local resources only. But the church still needs flooring, windows, doors and an electricity supply, and so Father Rui has turned to ACN for help. We believe he deserves our support after such a wonderful local effort, and so we have gladly promised him 13,300 Euros so that he can complete this church. Will you help us to make good this promise?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

More.<\/a> <\/em>Other needs: 100 bicycles for priests and religious in a diocese in central Cuba so they can travel to minister more efficiently; Discalced Carmelites needing assistance in Nicaragua; finish building a church in Ethiopia and a convent in Madagascar; a motorcycle for nuns ministering in Vietnam; Bibles for Ukrainian Catholics; refugee assistance in Uganda, South Africa and yes, Iraq, where Chaldean and Assyrian churches in northern Iraq are attempting to help Christian refugees from Baghdad and other large cities.<\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the ACIN projects list, I found an appeal for help for a Brazilian parish called "Our Lady, Untier of Knots." Who could not be curious? This devotion is rooted in an 18th century Bavarian painting, with this history, according to a story in the Chicago Catholic paper: An 18th century German painting hanging in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nMary, Untier of Knots - Via Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2006\/06\/mary-untier-of-knots.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mary, Untier of Knots - Via Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On the ACIN projects list, I found an appeal for help for a Brazilian parish called "Our Lady, Untier of Knots." 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She has written 17 books. 18, if you included the as yet tragically unpublished novel. Amy has five children, ranging in age from 26 to 4 and was married to Michael Dubruiel, who died unexpectedly in February 2009. 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