Mariette Beco was born the eldest of a family of seven children in a Catholic working family, who, however, did not practice their religion. She dwelt in a house isolated on the plateau of the Ardennes, along the route of Pepinster. Her household was not a pious one. Her father Julian Beco was an unemployed wiremaker who hadn't been to Mass in many years and her mother Louise was not very devout either. Because of her family circumstances, for two months Mariette had not gone to church, she was doing very poorly in catechism class, and