[3] Upon the death of Attala in 627, Bertulf was elected by the monks of Bobbio as their abbot.
Like his predecessor, he insisted on the observance of the austere rule introduced by Columbanus, the founder of Bobbio Abbey, and preached fearlessly against Arianism, which had gained a firm foothold in Italy under the Lombard kings.
Bertulf hastened to Rome, where Pope Honorius I received him kindly and granted the monastery entire exemption from episcopal jurisdiction, and subject directly to the Papal See.
[4] Jonas, a monk of Bobbio, who accompanied Bertulf on his journey to Rome, relates that, while returning to his monastery, Bertulf was attacked by a deadly fever, and cured miraculously by Peter.
Bertulf served seventeen years as abbot and died on August 19, 640.