Marguerite Bays was born the daughter of simple, pious farmers on 8 September 1815 in La Pierraz, Siviriez, near Fribourg, Switzerland. She was educated locally and worked as a dressmaker. She spent all her life in her own neighbourhood. In her parish she was an exemplary committed lay person, especially dedicated to children and young girls. She also visited the sick and the dying with tireless ardour. She was a true friend of the poor, whom she called "God's favorites". She introduced missionary activities into the parish and contributed to founding the Catholic press at the time of the Kulturkampf. She developed intestinal cancer at the age of 35 and asked Our Lady to intercede with her Son to exchange her suffering for the kind of pain that would enable her to share more directly in the Passion of Our Lord. She was miraculously cured on 8 December 1854 at the moment when Pius IX pronounced the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Instead, she had to bear a "mysterious affliction" which immobilized her in ecstasy every Friday when, physically and spiritually, she relived the phases of Jesus' passion from Gethesmane to Calvary. She also received the stigmata, like St Francis, which she did her best to hide.