An exposé of the nature of the penitentials would take us far into the long history of penance in the Eastern and Western Churches of Christendom and, in particular, to the supersession of public by private penance. In spite of the efforts of many scholars the steps in this process are still far from clear. All that can be said here is that the system of private penance depicted in the penitentials appears in the North West corner of Christendom at a time when public penance was virtually obsolete throughout the rest of Christendom.

The work of the Red Cross in the Congo — The International Committeee of the Red Cross has continued to assist persons under detention in the Congo, by visiting on March 1 the eight Belgian soldiers who were taken prisoner in January after crossing the Congo frontier, coming from Ruanda-Urundi. The delegate of the ICRC was allowed to speak with them, to hand over correspondence and to give them a few comforts.

As soon as the ICRC had set up a delegation in Leopoldville (July 1960), it was seen that a Tracing Service similar to the Central Agency in Geneva was urgently required. The disturbances had led to an abrupt exodus, and it was impossible to keep check of whole families leaving to seek asylum in the former French Congo, Angola, Northern Rhodesia, Tanganyika or the newly formed Central African Republic. These unexpected events, for which the host countries were not prepared (especially as far as a systematic registration of the refugees was concerned), and the disruption or complete break-down of means of communication, transport and postal services, had resulted in great and in many cases justifiable anxiety on the part of those obliged to leave, and their relatives.

A mission of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the eighth since 1955, went to Algeria from January 25 to February 23, 1961, in order to visit the principal centres and prisons in which arrested persons had been detained as a result of the events. This mission, which consisted of Mr. Pierre Gaillard, Mr. Roger Vust and Dr. J. L. de Chastonay, visited 61. places of detention of various categories, as well as hospitals in which there were prisoners and detainees. During the course of these visits, relief supplies were handed over to persons under detention. Wherever they went the delegates of the ICRC were able to talk without witnesses and at length with detainees whom they themselves had selected or with those who had expressed the wish to speak with them.

The Joint Commission for the distribution of income from the Empress Shôken Fund met in Geneva on February 21, 1961. The accounts and the position of the Fund as on December 31, 1960, were examined and it was decided to allocate from the balance available of Sw.Fr. 13,292.35 the sum of Sw.Fr. 13,000.