Abbot Peter made a formal appeal to Bishop Boniface of Carthage, because he felt that the rights of his monastery in the province of Byzacena (North Africa) had been infringed by Liberatus, his primate. The monastery of Abbot Peter had been originally founded by a subdeacon of Byzacena. Peter’s case was that, although the founder was in a relation of personal dependency (conditio) to Byzacena, the monastery could choose its allegiance (consolatio) to whichever episcopal see it chose. Carthage had been their original choice, although during the period 496-523, when there was no bishop there, the monks of Peter’s monastery had asked the primate of Byzacena, another Boniface, to ordain presbyters for them. When, afterwards, they tried to switch their allegiance back to Carthage, Libertus, the new primate of Byzacena, had excommunicated them at the council of Junci (AD 523).

Presbyter Fortunatus signed three petitions of the monks of the monastery. He is always signed as the second person, immediately after the abbot of the monastery, before the deacons and "seniores monasterii". He is described as the "presbyter monasterii", which may suggest that he was the only presbyter in the monastery at the time. It seems that he had a key role in writing the second petition, as he presents it to other monks for their subscription.