One of the fugitives, Ann Tannheiser, the local butcher´s wife, being pregnant, found a safe place on the mountain called God´s gift (Gottesgabe), about an hour away from the town. On a spot lined by a rock like a wall, there was no danger of the enemy, but the lonely lady went into labour. In her difficulty she asked the Lord for help and the Mother of God for intercession. The young lady was heard. On July 18^th she gave birth to her healthy son, Martin with whom she soon returned home. The boy lived the life of a respected man – he was an alderman.  Later his daughter, Dorothy Weis, fulfilled Tannheiser´s last will. In memory of the events of 1647 and in thanksgiving for the deliverance, she had a picture of the Mother of God painted by Simon Schwarzer and had it hung on the old fir in the silvan  seclusion where her father had been born.

The original picture of the Virgin Mary which has been placed in the Parish Church in Zlaté Hory. 

 
It happened in October 1718  and  the following year the site began to draw the first pilgrims. Gradually, more and more Marians from the Jeseníky region and more distant places. After ten years, a small wooden chapel was built at Martin’s birthplace, and the entries in  the bishop´s inquiry commission (it was formed by a priest and two physicians) gave evidence of at least five miraculous recoveries during a relatively short period of time. 

In 1729,  to meet the wishes of the believers from Zuckmantl, the bishop´s authority in Wroclaw agreed to place the beautiful picture in the Parish Church. The miraculous picture – a copy of famous “Passau” Madonna with the Child by Lucas Cranach – has remained there since.  Another copy was made for the forest chapel.

Soon, however,  the Pilgrimage Site called Maria Hilf - Our Lady, Help of Christians, was,  in great danger for the first time. ”Enlightened” reforms by Joseph II arrived in  Zuckmantl. In 1785 the authority ordered the wooden chapel to be closed and demolished. Supported by the bishopric, the inhabitants tried to oppose the order. An appeal against the administrative decision was rejected, but pilgrims continued to come to the site on their own. The imperial demolition order was not carried out because, nobody in the region was willing to do the work of demolition, not even under threat of the troops being used. But that was during the Napoleon wars and the state may have had other things to worry about. In 1819, the authority allowed the chapel to be enlarged and opened again.

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