Virgin painting ties Brazilians in knots

Confused? Stressed? Unhappy? Then say a prayer for Mary Untier of Knots.

In Argentina and Brazil the latest religious craze is to worship an 18th century German painting that depicts the Virgin Mary taking the knots out of a long white ribbon.

The image, which for 300 years has been kept in a church in Augsburg, Bavaria, is barely known in its home country. But in South America the image has become an ubiquitous Catholic icon. At least two Mary Untier of Knots churches have been opened in the past year, pictures are distributed in the street and you can even buy Untier of Knots starter kits containing a novena, a prayer sheet, a string of beads and a bracelet.

It is estimated that the Catholic church has about 2,000 titles for the Virgin Mary, such as Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Lourdes.

The story of Mary Untier of Knots began in the early 1700s when the painter Johann Schmittdner was commissioned to paint an interpretation of the Virgin Mary.

The image - called Maria Knotenlöserin in German - was then put on the altar of the St Peter am Perlach church in Augsburg.

Twenty years ago a copy of the painting was taken to Argentina, where it became venerated. A chapel in its honour was inaugurated last year in Formosa, on the Paraguay border. Two years ago the image found its way to Brazil.

Almost immediately Mary Untier of Knots caught the popular imagination. There are Untier of Knots worship centres in five states and, in September, a church was founded in Buzios, near Rio de Janeiro.

Regina Novaes, of Rio's Institute of Religious Studies, says that the Mary Untier of Knots "attracts people with small problems".