 Maréchal was born at Ingré in the former Province of Orléanais in the Kingdom of France on August 28, 1764, of fairly prosperous parents.He studied for the legal profession, but later entered the Sulpician seminary at Orléans, where he received the tonsure towards the close of 1787.France was in such a chaotic condition that he left Paris for Bordeaux, where he was ordained in 1792.