The first name of Monsieur Pierron is unknown—his name does not appear in the civil registers of the commune where he claims to have been born. Certain episodes of his life are recorded in the notebooks he began writing in 1896. Dates and events contradict one another, suggesting that his notes unfold according to his imagination. He indicates that he had his first visions at the age of six and was inhabited throughout his life by visions and premonitions. He is said to have worked for a time as a servant and to have left his village at eighteen for Metz and then Paris in order to learn the trade of tailor. According to his notebooks, his mother died some time before his father, who suffered from alcoholism, in 1864. Following a serious accident, he is said to have had one leg amputated. Lacking money, he writes that he had to interrupt his training, but Dr. Michel, who had operated on him, helped him resume his apprenticeship by granting him a monthly allowance.
At the age of 52, he thus began writing in very small notebooks, also adorned with drawings, a mixture of diary and memoir—though it is unclear to what extent the recorded facts are real. On the first one reads: First Book of the Mystical Life of a Worker. Written in 1896 – 1897 – 1898. On another: Third mystical book. Written between 1900-2-3 in my moments of rest and for my distraction and meditation.
The numbering of the eight volumes we know suggests that at least ten were produced up to 1918, six of which are now part of the Decharme collection. The quality of the graphic work, the delicacy of the illustrations, and the style of the writing reveal a level of education that contrasts with the often approximate spelling of the author.