According to legend, there was an apparition of the Virgin Mary here in the 14th century. A boy who had fallen from a cliff was saved by the Mother of God. A pilgrimage chapel was then built, which burned down in 1466. The second chapel was devastated and plundered in 1530 during the Reformation. In 1541, another victim of a fall was rescued. The Junker Reich von Reichenstein survived the fall and the Reichensteins have considered the chapel a family shrine ever since. In 1636, the Benedictine monks of Beinwil took over the pastoral care of the pilgrims. The monastery was secularized twice. The monks fled to Bregenz via Delle and Hallen. From there they were chased away by the Gestapo in 1941 and returned to Mariastein. In 1971, the abbey was officially rebuilt.
The miraculous image of the Mother of Consolation is located under the monastery in the Chapel of Grace. Descend to the cave chapel at 59.
The three-aisled basilica was originally built in the late Gothic style.