Following secularization in the early 19th century, the Capuchins eventually left and the Franciscan order took over the abbey and caring for the pilgrims.

It is passed by the long-distance hiking trail Eselsweg which connects Schlüchtern to Grossheubach and follows the route of a historic road that was used to transport salt across the Spessart range.

In 1483, Grossheubach came to the Archbishop of Mainz in a land swap with the Teutonic Order that had held the village and its surroundings since 1291.

[1][2]: 60–1 In 1630, Anselm Kasimir von Wambold, Archbishop of Mainz, asked Capuchins from the Rhenish Province to come here.

[1] The pilgrimage way (612 steps of red sandstone, the so-called Engelsstaffeln) through the vineyards from Grossheubach features 14 Baroque chapels and 14 Stations of the Cross from 1866.

[1] The current set of mostly Baroque monastic buildings are quite simple architecturally, reflecting their origins during the Thirty Years' War.

Back then, measured by its message, the most important work of art was the larger-than-life statue of St. Michael set above the church portal, created by Zacharias Juncker the Older (from a family of sculptors [de]) around 1635.

The statue at Engelberg was erected after the Protestant Swedish had been beaten and driven out of Franconia, turning the monastery into a monument to the resurrected power of the Catholic faith.

The sitting figure holds a scepter in the right hand and the left arm is wrapped around the boy Jesus.