Abstract
The fifteenth volume of the Patristics edition brings an annotated English translation of the treatise De paenitentia ("About Repentance") by the bishop of Milan, St. Ambrose (c. 340-397).
The opening study examines the development of the practice of penance in the early Church until the 4th century, mainly in the western part, with a focus on the Novatian crisis. The personality and work of St.
Ambrose are also presented, especially his treatise About Repentance, written in response to the Novatian heresy. The text, though, is not only an instance of contemporary polemics, but above all the first formalized and structured work of theology that has contributed to the evolution of the concept of penance as one of the Church's sacraments.