[1] Marchocka was born on June 25, 1603, in southern Poland, near Nowy Sącz, which was a heavily Protestant area at the time of her birth.

She was born into an aristocratic, politically active family, during the latter half of what some historians claim to be Poland's Golden Age.

During this time, the Polish Parliament grew to check the king's power, territories were consolidated, religious diversity was tolerated, and more members of the aristocracy started pursuing university educations.

[3] Marchocka, like most medieval and early modern women, had limited educational opportunities,[4] and was educated in "strict adherence to the Catholic faith,"[5] using religious texts including Piotr Skarga's Lives of the Saints and the writings of Carmelite nun and Catholic saint Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi.

She visited the convent with her parents several times and wrote critically of the way the nunnery was run, noting that she was dismayed that the "rule of silence was not maintained" and that she witnessed various other forms of misbehavior.

Over the course of her tenure in the convent, she ascended to the rank of prioress, and grew to be admired by her sisters for her saintly lifestyle and her "contemplative prayer".

[11] She was also seen as a protective spirit in the convent, and it was believed that her prayers saved Carmelite nuns in Lviv from the Cossacks invasion of April 16, 1649.

[14] Marchocka's autobiography contains several elements typically found in the hagiography of saints, including miraculous events like premonitions and visions of the Virgin Mary.

[18] Former professor at Yale Divinity School Roland H. Bainton divided Marchocka's autobiography into the five stages of her religious journey.

Let me but know Thee, Oh God.”[21]Father Ignatius of St. John the Evangelist, who was the first person to encourage Marchocka to document her life, created the first manuscript copy of her autobiography two years after her death, in 1654.