He may have been educated at Tournai's cathedral school, perhaps under Benedictine monk, Odo of Cambrai.

Guerric appears to have lived a life of prayer and study near the Tournai Cathedral.

His monastic formation was directly influenced by Bernard of Clairvaux, who praises him in several letters.

In 1138, he became abbot of Igny Abbey, in the diocese of Rheims, a house dependent on Clairvaux.

[3] Guerric was raised to the rank of Blessed; his relics are still venerated in Igny.