The incident happened, when the church was renovated in 1692. Stonemason Gregor Eržen, whose girlfriend incidentally was named Mary, also worked on the renovations. When he walked past the statue stored in the shed, he exclaimed that Mother Mary had beautiful eyes, but that his girlfriend's eyes were even more beautiful. It seemed to him that the statue of Mary shook her head in disagreement; this angered him and so he struck the statue in the temple with his hammer. The statue started bleeding from the crack caused by the strike, and the bleeding did not stop. The priest at the time arranged for a sculptor to fix the crack and paint the statue, but this was all in vain as the crack is still in evidence today. Eržen made a pilgrimage to Rome to redeem himself. Legend has it that when he returned and knelt before the statue of Mary two years later she smiled at him as a sign of forgiveness.

Following the event, the statue of Mary was placed on the throne of the high altar and the story was painted on the presbytery vault. The legend rapidly spread throughout the country and lured increasing numbers of pilgrims to the village of Ljubno. The name of the Church of 'Stricken' Mary was inspired by this story.