Robert, called “Ro­bert the Sage” and “Ro­bert the De­vout,” suc­ceed­ed his fa­ther, Hugh Ca­pet, on the throne of France around 997. He has been called the gent­lest mon­arch that ev­er sat up­on a throne, and his am­i­a­bil­i­ty of char­ac­ter poor­ly pre­pared him to cope with his dan­ger­ous and wi­ly ad­ver­sar­ies. His last years were em­bit­tered by the op­po­si­tion of his own sons, and the po­li­ti­cal agi­ta­tions of the times…Ro­bert pos­sessed a re­flect­ive mind, and was fond of learn­ing and mu­sic­al art. He was both a po­et and a mu­si­cian. He was deep­ly re­li­gious, and, from un­self­ish mo­tives, was much de­vot­ed to the church…He him­self was a chor­is­ter; and there was no king­ly ser­vice that he seemed to love so well. We are told that it was his cus­tom to go to the church of St. De­nis, and in his roy­al robes, with his crown up­on his head, to di­rect the choir at ma­tins and ves­pers, and join in the sing­ing. Few kings have left a bet­ter le­ga­cy to the Christ­ian church.

Hymns

1. Ve­ni, Sanc­te Spir­it­us
   • Come, Holy Ghost, in Love
   • Come, Thou Holy Spirit, Come