Pierre was born on February 4, 1575 at Sérilly near Troyes to the noble Bérulle family. Educated by the Jesuits at Paris and at the Sorbonne, Pierre received the Doctor of Theology and became the leading French Catholic intellectual of the early 17th century.
In 1604, Bérulle personally organized the bringing of the Discalced Carmelites from Spain to France — producing the famous Discalced Carmelite Rue Denfert (Rue d'Enfer) foundation in Paris (the formation-house of Bl. Anne of Jesus and Bl. Anne of St. Bartholomew — see their entries).
In 1611, Bérulle founded the French Oratory of Jesus and Mary Immaculate — the French Catholic Congregation of secular priests dedicated to the sanctification of the diocesan clergy through the systematic spiritual formation. The French Oratory became the institutional foundation of the French School of Spirituality.
Bérulle's theological-mystical vision — the Christocentric Trinitarian mysticism of the Word Incarnate as the unique religious act of the Father, the 'servitude to Mary' devotion, and the systematic formation of the priesthood as participation in the eternal High Priesthood of Christ — established the 17th-century French Catholic spirituality that would produce the French School: Ven. Charles de Condren, Ven. Jean-Jacques Olier (founder of the Society of Saint-Sulpice, 1642), St. Vincent de Paul, St. John Eudes, St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, and the French Catholic revival tradition to the present day.
Cardinal Bérulle undertook multiple diplomatic missions on behalf of King Louis XIII of France — most famously the 1625 mission that negotiated the marriage of King Charles I of England to Henrietta Maria of France (the attempt at the Anglo-French Catholic-Protestant royal reconciliation).
He died on October 2, 1629 at Paris while celebrating Mass — collapsing at the altar just after the Consecration.