Born in Switzerland, de Corneille spent his childhood in France and moved to the United States where he worked and received much of his formal education.
He received his BA cum laude from Amherst College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa honorary society.
He studied at General Theological Seminary in New York and then transferred to Canada and graduated from the University of Toronto's Trinity College in 1953 as an ordained Anglican priest.
De Corneille is credited as the first Canadian clergyman to urge the Christian community to re-evaluate its attitude towards Jews.
As a result of de Corneille's efforts, the Anglican Church re-evaluated its attitude towards the Jewish community and renounced proselytization in favour of understanding, dialogue and reconciliation.