He was born in La Rochelle (Latin: Rupella), towards the end of the 12th century, and seems to have entered the Franciscan Order at an early age.
“For Jean de la Rochelle, theology is essentially wisdom…Jean deems that three things are required for a theologian: knowledge, a holy life, and teaching.
Father Fidelis of Fanna says (on the Summa) that no subject is to be found so frequently in manuscripts of the 13th and 14th centuries in the many European libraries he searched.
There also exist summae on the virtue, vices, the articles of the faith, and the ten commandments; many biblical commentaries; sermons, and disputed questions on grace and other theological topics.
He appears to have enjoyed a favorable reputation, and is described by Bernard of Besse as a professor of great fame for holiness and learning, whose writings were both solid and extremely useful.
“Jean’s typical procedure in each of the three parts of the Tractatus is to assemble authoritative texts on the point at hand and then to analyze their competing vocabularies”.