midnight
The guide answers it with a look of surprise . `` They sing , '' he says , `` because they are glad they are free . Did you not know ? '' The bells in old Trinity chime the midnight hour . From dark hallways men and women pour forth and hasten to the Maronite church . In the loft of the dingy old warehouse wax candles burn before an altar of brass . The priest , in a white robe with a huge gold cross worked on the back , chants the ritual .