 During the first year, the monks set about constructing lodging areas and farming the lands of Cîteaux, making use of a nearby chapel for Mass.In Robert's absence from Molesme, however, the abbey had gone into decline, and Pope Urban II, a former Cluniac monk, ordered him to return.The remaining monks of Cîteaux elected Alberic as their abbot, under whose leadership the abbey would find its grounding.