Fakhr-al-Din II
In 1584 the Franciscan monks were evicted again from the site of the ruined basilica. In 1620, Fakhr-al-Din II, a Druze emir who controlled this part of Ottoman Syria, permitted them to build a small church at the Grotto of the Annunciation. Pilgrimage tours to surrounding sacred sites were organised by the Franciscans, but the monks suffered harassment from surrounding Bedouin tribes who often kidnapped them for ransom.