Father Stephan Mayer's luck ran out on 1 April 1634, when seven Swedish cavalrymen rode into his parish of Unteregg. For two years the mercenary armies of the Swedish crown and the German emperor had waged a see-saw struggle for control of Upper Swabia, but thus far Mayer had managed to stay out of harm's way. Six times he had already fled the village, which lay just to the east of his birthplace in the Ottobeuren lands, and would be acquired by the monastery in 1749. This time the soldiers caught him.

“Stop, you damn thief!” the first rider barked. “Come here! Run!” The priest complied. “It is just that we are so afraid of you sirs,” he explained meekly. And with good reason: the soldier promptly pulled out a pistol and bluntly announced, “Today is the day of death. You must die.” The trooper was soon joined by one of his comrades, and after taking Mayer's purse the soldiers hauled the priest into the village center and attempted to find out who he was. At first they thought he was the innkeeper, which Mayer denied. The soldiers then asked some bystanders to identify the prisoner, but the peasants lied and said they didn't know him. The priest was caught in a terrifying dilemma. If he didn't hand over at least some valuables to his captors, they were likely to kill him, but if he revealed his true identity, he was even less likely to survive.