Marianne was born in one of the many farming villages on the edge of a manorial territory to the north, which freezes over for half the year. The harsh environment made growing crops a challenge, and with her parents being peasant farmers, her family struggled just to get by.
But her deeply religious parents attended church every week and always prayed before meals. Following in their footsteps, Marianne diligently prayed well, but when she was just 10, her father fell victim to an epidemic. They had no money for medicine, and her father passed away, leaving behind the young Marianne and her mother.
After a period or mourning, Marianne and her mother returned to their daily routine of tending to the fields and praying at church. But events had bred doubt within Marianne. If God didn't save her father, why did her mother even pray?
Despite these feelings, Marianne still attended church where she prayed fervently and studied theology. This was because the only options available to her were to remain a peasant farmer or become a priest.
Marianne's efforts were rewarded when the church pastor recommended her, and she gained the right to enter the seminary in the capital.
She learned many things at school and from living in the capital, inculding the lavish lifestyles of the nobles and merchants there, and the fact that most of those who died from famine and disease were poor.
Seeing this answered the question Marianne had since youth. "Being poor is a sin." If poverty were a sin, it would explain why her father had not survived. She understood this to mean that money was of an equivalent power to God when it came to saving people, and she become a priest.
