The author, an official of the french civil service, was stationed in Lourdes in 1858 at the time of the apparitions of the virgin in the Grotto. He knew Bernadette and had her intimate confidence. He followed the miraculous events at the very spot where they occured and noted every detail in a diairy he kept day to day. many years were to pass, however, before he was persuaded to weave his notes into a narrative.