Sixteen months after her birth in late April 1770 she suffered an accident that resulted in a broken hip and ankle to the point that she would be unable to walk; she started to crawl in order to compensate for a total lack of movement.

Until she turned five her mother took her to the local shrine - the "Chapel of the Penitents" - where she would spend hours in silent reflection before a representation of the Pietà.

[1] On 8 September 1774 she found that she was able to walk albeit with the help of crutches though would suffer from rickets and in her adulthood stood at four feet and four inches.

[2] In 1794 the authorities confiscated the building in which the school was run and Rivier and her companions moved to the town of Thueyts where Father Luigi Pontanier provided them support (he was a member of the Society of Saint-Sulpice).

The beatification process started under Pope Pius IX (who once called her "The Woman Apostle") and she became titled as a Servant of God on 12 May 1853.

[4] The confirmation of her heroic virtue led Pope Leo XIII to name Rivier as Venerable on 13 June 1890.