He was born into an aristocratic family of Champagne and educated in the Cluniac Priory of Saint-Martin-des-Champs at Paris.
[2][3] Became a Benedictine, and in 1150 was made Abbot of "La Celle" in Saint-André-les-Vergers, near Troyes, where he got his surname, Cellensis.
In 1162 he was appointed Abbot of St. Rémy at Reims, and in 1181 he succeeded John of Salisbury as Bishop of Chartres.
[4] The treatises were titled: His letters were edited separately and are believed to be valuable from an historical standpoint.
[2][Note 1] An account of them appears in Marcel Viller et al., Dictionnaire de Spiritualité, 14 vols to date, Paris 1937.