(source: TASR/Dano Veselovský)
Mariánska Čeľaď, also known as Máriacsáld, is today a half-decomposed frame of the former monastery, the seat of the Pauline Order near Podhájska and Veľké Lovce in the district of Nové Zámky.
The legend of the disappearing girls from the surrounding villages is connected to the monastery. They were supposed to have been kidnapped by the "white monks" who lived in it. Locals in those days referred to them by their religious clothing and hoods.
Legend says that the girls were abducted and raped by monks
The locals did not like the monks that much, as they thought they were condescending. This mostly concerned the second, or third-born noble descendants.
The monks allegedly abducted the women through underground passages, imprisoned them in the monastery, raped, and even killed them so that they would not denunciate the monks.
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According to another legend, the surrounding forests were inhabited by bandits who kidnapped girls disguised as monks in order to cast suspicion on them.
However, they did not kill the women, so they sometimes returned home and told what had happened.
