He was born in 1641 in the city of Saint-Symphorien-d'Ozon, then in the ancient Province of Dauphiné, the third child of the notary Bertrand La Colombière and of Margaret Coindat.

The family soon moved to the nearby city of Vienne, where he began his education, before attending the Jesuit school in Lyon for his secondary studies.

As a result of this experience of the Spiritual Exercises, he made a personal vow, as a means of attaining the utmost possible perfection, to observe faithfully the Rule and Constitutions of the Society under penalty of sin.

[4] After professing the Fourth Vow of the Society at the end of his tertianship on 2 February 1675, Colombière was appointed the rector of the Jesuit community at Paray-le-Monial, where he also became the spiritual director of the nuns of the Monastery of the Visitation Sisters located next to the church.

When Colombière came to the community and began to hear the confessions of the sisters, she felt that she had finally found a priest in whom she could truly confide, and opened up her heart to him.

In November 1678, while awaiting a recall to France, he was suddenly arrested and thrown into prison, denounced as being a part of the Popish Plot alleged by Titus Oates against the English throne.

[1] Caught up in the anti-Catholic hysteria which resulted from this alleged plot, he was confined in severe conditions at the King's Bench Prison, where his fragile health took a turn for the worse.

[6] The last two years of Colombière's life were spent at Lyon, where he was spiritual director to the Jesuit novices, and at Paray-le-Monial, where he returned to improve his health.