midnight
Chapter 2 . VI . The Conspirator Becomes the Magistrate . At midnight , when the rest of the city seemed hushed in rest , lights were streaming from the windows of the Church of St. Angelo . Breaking from its echoing aisles , the long and solemn notes of sacred music stole at frequent intervals upon the air . Rienzi was praying within the church ; thirty masses consumed the hours from night till morn , and all the sanction of religion was invoked to consecrate the enterprise of liberty . -LRB- In fact , I apprehend that if ever the life of Cola di Rienzi shall be written by a hand worthy of the task , it will be shown that a strong religious feeling was blended with the political enthusiasm of the people , -- the religious feeling of a premature and crude reformation , the legacy of Arnold of Brescia .