Lyons, being persuaded that they could not subsist there without the endorsement of an influential churchman, wrote in their favour to Eudo, duke of Burgundy. Eudo paid for the construction they had begun, helped the monks finance their operating expenses and gave them much land and cattle. The bishop of Challons elevated the new monastery to the canonical status of an abbey. In 1099, the monks of Molesme asked Robert to return and agreed to submit entirely to his interpretation of the Rule of St. Benedict; the local bishop also pressured Robert to return. He agreed and Molesme became a major center for the Benedictines under his tutelage. Albéric was made successor abbot at Cîteaux, with Stephen Harding as prior. Robert died on 17 April 1111. Pope Honorius III canonized him in 1222. His feast day in the Roman Catholic Church is also on 17 April, with the Benedictines celebrating him, along with Alberic of Cîteaux and Stephen Harding on February 26. The Vie de saint Robert de Molesme was written by Guy, his immediate successor as abbot of Molesme. References 1020s births 1111 deaths Year of birth uncertain People from Troyes French Cistercians French Benedictines French abbots Founders of Catholic religious communities 12th-century Christian saints Medieval French saints Cistercian abbots general Cistercian saints