midnight
On entering , Pierre felt himself to be in some common hall trod by the footsteps of an ever-changing crowd . But the brilliant sunlight no longer streamed on the pallid walls , the tapers burning at every altar simply gleamed like stars amidst the uncertain gloom which filled the building . A solemn high mass had been celebrated at midnight with extraordinary pomp , amidst all the splendour of candles , chants , golden vestments , and swinging , steaming censers ; but of all this glorious display there now remained only the regulation number of tapers necessary for the celebration of the masses at each of the fifteen altars ranged around the edifice . These masses began at midnight and did not cease till noon . Nearly four hundred were said during those twelve hours at the Rosary alone . Taking the whole of Lourdes , where there were altogether some fifty altars , more than two thousand masses were celebrated daily . And so great was the abundance of priests , that many had extreme difficulty in fulfilling their duties , having to wait for hours together before they could find an altar unoccupied .