In the year 1890, the children of a village school near Reichenberg, in Bohemia, were taken on an outing into the woods as a treat. In the midst of their playing, a heavy storm suddenly broke out and the rain came pelting down. A group of children, thirty-one in number, sought shelter under a gigantic fir tree.

Suddenly, one of them, a little girl, felt irresistibly urged to leave the shelter of that particular tree. Though apparently safe, she decided to follow her inspiration and run away, dragging two or three others with her. Fortunately, the others also followed her example, and ran from the tree. They had scarcely gotten but a few feet away when the tree was struck by lightning, and torn asunder with a terrifying crash.

Their parents, upon hearing what happened, were most grateful to the Guardian Angels of their children, who had rescued them from death. Out of gratitude, they erected a cross on the spot where the tree had stood, as a monument to the ever constant and loving protection of the Guardian Angels.