midnight
For that black and bitter night the Church , which he had loved and reverenced , looked to him like the root of all injustice . The more he thought of the slight that had been put upon him , the worse it became , till the thought arose in him that he would leave the Community , leave Rome , leave it all . After long hours , anger had full sway in the heart of Father Ramoni . At midnight he heard the striking of the city 's clocks through the windows , the lattices of which he had forgotten to close . The sound of the city brought back to him the words of the great prelate who had returned with him to San Ambrogio from his first audience with the Holy Father -- '' _ Filius urbis et orbis _ . '' How bitterly the city had treated him ! A knock sounded at his door .