Our Mission
In a world of so many unknowns, we take comfort in knowing exactly what our purpose as a school is. We exist to nurture saints who will go out and inspire more saints - “Making saints who will make saints.” Our ultimate goal is the attainment of heaven for all our students, families, and staff members. Furthermore, we desire that we all share a burning zeal to save as many souls as possible to spend eternity in heaven with them. We prepare kids with a solid academic education and a love of the Catholic faith so that they can go out into the world and inspire more saints.
Why 1612?
In 1612 a German man named Wolfgang Langenmental and his wife Sophie were having a great deal of marital problems. Fearful that the marriage could not be repaired, Wolfgang sought the advice and prayers of a Jesuit priest named Fr. Rem.
There is a beautiful tradition in Bavarian weddings that requires the maid of honor to use a ribbon to bind the bride and groom’s arms together using a series of knots. This ribbon is then kept by the newly married couple.
Wolfgang visited Fr. Rem three more times for prayer and advice. On his fourth visit, a miracle occurred. Wolfgang brought the wedding ribbon, full of knots, to Fr. Rem who then took the ribbon and held it up to a painting of Our Lady of the Snows. He proceeded to untie the knots in the ribbon one at a time while praying for Mary’s intercession to untie the knots in the couple’s marriage. When Fr. Rem untied the final knot, the ribbon suddenly turned to a brilliant snowy white. Mary had indeed interceded and the marriage was saved.
This story was passed down in the family until it eventually reached their grandson, Fr. Hiernonymus Abrosius Langenmantel. In 1700 he commissioned a painting of Our Lady of Good Counsel to commemorate this great miracle.
Fr. Langenmantel told the story to the artist, Johann Melchior Georg Schmidtner who became deeply inspired. Under that inspiration, he painted the image “Mary Undoer of Knots" that we all know.
There have been countless miracles attributed to Mary’s intercession in the last 300 years and the devotion to Our Lady Undoer of Knots is growing rapidly. We pray that she may undo the knots in our lives as well as yours.
We Need Mary To Untie Our Financial Knots
Many Catholic schools face large financial “knots” and St. Mary is no exception. Operating costs continue to rise due to inflation, insurance premium increases, and the increasing need for maintenance on our building which is more than 71 years old. Our roof and the heating unit above the preschool building are long overdue for replacement. While increasing tuition may seem like an immediate solution, it will only provide short-term relief. Over half of our families are on reduced tuition and significant tuition increases would unfortunately price many of our families out of our product.
For this reason, we are hopeful that we can bridge this gap by rallying the support of individuals like you who believe in our mission to help nurture our students and help them become saints. Please prayerfully consider joining the 1612 Club through monthly donations, gifting a one-time donation, or purchasing unique gifts from our shop.
God bless!
Stephen Hart
Principal
