In 1554 the rulers of Beilstein became Protestants and imposed their faith on their subjects. No wonder perhaps that the locals didn’t mind being occupied by Catholic Spaniards in 1620, during the bloody 30 Years War of Religion. Without a fight they opened their gates to the Spanish troops, who had appeared with their black Madonna. The peaceful takeover of the town during a time of rampant violence was a miracle that everybody attributed to the Virgin called Queen of Peace. Not only was nobody killed or raped, but nothing was stolen and no house set on fire. Immediately pilgrims began streaming to the foreign Madonna. The 14 years of Spanish occupation were marked by such friendly relations that the occupiers left their precious Queen of Peace in Germany when they were pushed back out.
She dwelt in the parish church until Carmelite monks moved into Beilstein and erected a monastery church big enough to welcome the devotees of the Black Madonna. It was inaugurated at the end of the 17th century. The Carmelites have a great devotion to their patron, Mother Mary, Our Lady of the Scapular and fostered any kind of love for the Queen of Heaven. So on the feast day of Our Lady of the Scapular so many pilgrims would come to the celebration put on by the monks that tents had to be erected all around Beilstein to house the guests.
During the forced secularizations of the 19th century, the monastery was dissolved and its art and sacred treasures sold. The Black Madonna was later found in someone’s private possession and given to the local bishop. After his death it was put in the diocesan museum.