Eymard was born 4 February 1811 at La Mure, Isère, in the French Alps. His father was a smith whose second wife was Julian's mother. All his life Peter Julian (or Pierre-Julien in French) had an intense devotion to Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Before his First Communion on 16 March 1823, he went on foot to the shrine of Notre-Dame du Laus. Later, he came to know about the apparition of Notre-Dame de La Salette and enjoyed traveling to various Marian shrines throughout France.