Religion & Spirituality

Novena of the Week: To Mary, Undoer of Knots

By Scott P. Richert, About.com GuideJune 19, 2012

Follow me on:

June 28 is the Feast of Saint Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr, and in honor of his feast I have chosen a Novena to Mary, Undoer of Knots, as our Novena of the Week.

Now, you may be wondering how a novena to the Blessed Virgin honors Saint Irenaeus, a second-century bishop of Lyons (in modern-day France). Irenaeus, a native of Smyrna in Asia Minor, is renowned for two things: He began the tradition of biblical scholarship, in one of the earliest efforts to compile a canon of the New Testament; and he wrote at great length against the heresies of his day, especially the Gnostics and the Valentinians.

The two efforts were related: The books that Irenaeus argued did not belong in the canon of the New Testament included the various pseudo-Gospels that the heretics of his day and ours find so fascinating. The fact that, 19 centuries later, Christians find themselves tempted to return to texts that were rejected by the successors of the Apostles within a half-century after the death of the Apostle and Evangelist John gives the lie to any claims we might make to having progressed spiritually beyond our ancestors.

But what does any of this have to do with the Novena to Mary, Undoer of Knots? The novena was inspired by an 18th-century baroque icon (pictured to the left), which in turn was inspired by a passage from Saint Irenaeus' most-famous work, Against Heresies. In discussing the role of the Blessed Virgin as the Second Eve, Irenaeus writes:

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.

Over the course of 15 centuries, this image became refined in popular devotion to apply not only to Mary's fiat at the Annunciation but to her constant intercession for us before the throne of God in Heaven. Thus, the Novena to Mary, Undoer of Knots, was born.

The knots in question are the hard parts of our lives, born of our own sins. As we become more stubbornly attached to a particular sin, it becomes hard to abandon that sin, just as it become harder to untie a knot when we pull on the edges of the string to tighten it up. But through the Blessed Virgin's intercession, and the grace extended to us by Christ through her prayers for us, we can unravel those knots and grow in the spiritual life.

You can find instructions for praying the novena at Novena to Mary, Undoer of Knots. There are different meditations for each day of the novena, which are linked from that page. To make it easier for you to figure out which meditation to use, and to help you remember to pray the novena every day, I have set up a free daily reminder e-mail for the Novena to Mary, Undoer of Knots. Simply sign up today, and every day you will receive an e-mail with instructions for the novena, and links to that day's prayers and meditation.

(Baroque icon of Maria Knotenlöserin (Mary Undoer of Knots) by Johann George Melchior Schmidtner (c. 1700, oil on poplar), in the Church of St. Peter am Perlach, Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany.)

Sign Up for Daily E-Mail Reminders for Novenas

Connect With Scott: Facebook | Twitter | Newsletters

Novena of the Week: To Mary, Undoer of Knots

More on the Novena to Mary, Undoer of Knots:

Sign Up for Daily E-Mail Reminders for Novenas

Related Blogs