Brother Lawrence was born Nicolas Herman in Hériménil, near Lunéville in the region of Lorraine, located in modern-day eastern France.

The Swedes entered Lorraine, and while passing through the area attacked the little town of Rambervillers where he became wounded, leaving him permanently lame.

After a period of convalescence in his parents' home, he entered the employment of William de Fuibert, treasurer to the king of France.

In mid-June, at the age of twenty-six, he entered the Discalced Carmelites at what is now Saint-Joseph-des-Carmes on the Rue de Vaugirard in Paris,[5] as a lay brother.

[7] He spent the rest of his life with the Parisian community, where his primary assignments were working in the kitchen and, in his later years, repairing sandals.

[8] He entered fearing 'they would skin him alive' for his awkwardness and faults—as he said in his own unpolished language, often seasoned with humor—but fortunately for himself and his brothers 'he experienced only satisfaction'.

He carried out this office of cook until his leg became ulcerated, at which point his superiors assigned him an easier task, as sandal maker.

The conversations had been conducted and recorded by a notable cleric, the Abbé Joseph de Beaufort, who compiled this work after Brother Lawrence died.

It became popular among Catholics and Protestants alike, with John Wesley,[12] Willard L Sperry,[13][14] A. W. Tozer[15] and Hannah Whitall Smith recommending it to others.

"[16] Father de Beaufort recalls that "Lawrence was open, eliciting confidence, letting you feel you could tell him anything ... Once you got past the rough exterior you discovered unusual wisdom, a freedom beyond the reach of the ordinary lay brother".