During the renovation of a church in Germany, a statue of the Virgin was moved temporarily from the altar to a portico in the town square.

Some young men were playing ball in the square. One of the youths was wearing a ring given to him by his beloved. Thinking the ball could damage it; he put it on the finger of the statue for safekeeping. Kneeling before the statue, he placed the ring on its finger. He promised the Virgin that he would never love another lady, and that he would be faithful to her.

The statue closed its finger around the ring, and the people seeing this, advised the young man to join the Cistercian Order. He disregarded his promise to the Virgin and married his girlfriend.

On his wedding night, as he was lying in bed, the Virgin appeared to him and rebuked him for being unfaithful to her.

The bridegroom would not leave his bride, so the Virgin lay down on the bed, and separated him from his wife. She demanded that he leave at once.

He was so frightened that he got up at once, and wandered through the wilderness for a month. Later, he lived as a hermit in a grove of pine trees and served the Virgin.rn