In 890 he established, with his own funds, the monastery of St. Peter at Gigny in the Jura Mountains and became its first abbot. In this he was supported by Rudolph I of Burgundy In 894, Berno travelled to Rome and got papal approval for the charter of Gigny. The monasteries at Gigny and Baume followed the rule as interpreted by Benedict of Aniane, who had sought to restore the primitive strictness of the monastic observance wherever it had been relaxed. The rule focused on prayer, silence, and solitude.