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The data collected by the DAMA/LIBRA-phase2 set-up during two additional annual cycles have been analyzed, further investigating the long-standing model-independent annual modulation effect pointed out by DAMA deep underground at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory of the I.N.F.N. by using various different experimental configurations. Including the new results, the total exposure of DAMA/LIBRA-phase2 over 8 annual cycles is 1.53 t·yr and the evidence for a signal that meets all the requirements of the model-independent Dark Matter annual modulation signature is 11.8 σ C.L. in the energy region (1 - 6) keV. In the (2 - 6) keV energy interval, where data are also available from DAMA/NaI and DAMA/LIBRA-phase1, the achieved C.L. for the full exposure of 2.86 t·yr is 13.7 σ. No systematics or side reaction able to mimic this signature (i.e., to account for the whole measured modulation amplitude and to simultaneously satisfy all the requirements of the signature) has been found or suggested by anyone throughout some decades thus far. A preliminary result on the further lowering of the software energy threshold and perspectives are also mentioned.

The first model independent results obtained by the DAMA/LIBRA-phase2 experiment are presented. The data have been collected over 6 annual cycles corresponding to a total exposure of 1.13 t  yr, deep underground at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS) of the I.N.F.N. The DAMA/LIBRA-phase2 apparatus, ≃ 250 kg highly radio-pure NaI(Tl), profits from a second generation high quantum efficiency photomultipliers and of new electronics with respect to DAMA/LIBRA-phase1. The improved experimental configuration has also allowed to lower the software energy threshold. New data analysis strategies are presented. The DAMA/LIBRA-phase2 data confirm the evidence of a signal that meets all the requirements of the model independent Dark Matter (DM) annual modulation signature, at 9.5  C.L. in the energy region (1 - 6) keV. In the energy region between 2 and 6 keV, where data are also available from DAMA/NaI and DAMA/LIBRA-phase1 (exposure 1.33 t  yr, collected over 14 annual cycles), the achieved C.L. for the full exposure (2.46 t  yr) is 12.9 ; the modulation amplitude of the single-hit scintillation events is: (0.0103 ± ± 0.0008) cpd/kg/keV, the measured phase is (145 ± 5) d and the measured period is (0.999 ± 0.001) yr, all these values are well in agreement with those expected for DM particles. No systematics or side reaction able to mimic the exploited DM signature (i.e. to account for the whole measured modulation amplitude and to simultaneously satisfy all the requirements of the signature), has been found or suggested by anyone throughout some decades thus far.

Following a number of other scholars, the author of this article attempts to demonstrate main aspects of not only thoughts (theology and spiritual refl ection), but also of actions of Ambrose in order to present his image in a more contextualised framework. The study consists of three sections. The “prologue”, drawing on two treatises or a fragment of treatises (De fuga saeculi; De Iacob I), outlines Ambrose’s doctrine of grace. Despite seemingly contradicting expressions, these texts show that the idea of the divine donation in Christ is the centre of the religious experience of the bishop from Milan. The second section scrutinises dogmatic grounds of Ambrosian Christocentrism, i.e. the dosctrine of the Trinity (triadology) and of the Incarnation (Christology), which are developed by Ambrose with both Greek and Latin traditions as the foundation. Ambrose emphasises the doctrine of Christ as both the true God and the true man. As the third section shows, Ambrose’s spiritual experince is based on these dogmatic truths: via Christ-man to Christ-God; Christ as Way and Limit, — all these formulae imply, so to say, a pre-Augustinian fl avour. The result of the study can be boiled down to one phrase: Christus omnia. The unity of the contemplator’s thought and the pastor’s action is revealed in this love of Christ. Besides, the pastor is aff ecting or trying to aff ect the representative of the authorities, because Ambrose desired to lead the Empire and its rulers to Father via Christ in accordance with the Orthodox faith. Numerous borrowings from theology of his predecessors, no less than their creative rethinking, were ultimately aimed at the implementation of this very concept. Ambrose’s intuitions, pervading all his legacy, also open new perspectives; the bishop from Milan was in a certain sense an intellectual intermediary.

The article deals with the Roman primacy according to the Africans of the III-VII centuries. The curve of the history it draws is simple. Of the African thought on the subject Cyprian was the voice more or less definitive, close to Irenaeus of Lyons, who was perhaps one of his inspirers, but on another plane. Tertullian, between them, had shown his specific character. For Cyprian, promoter of what in our century was to be called “ecclesiology of communion”, the Apostle Peter was the first one invested by Christ to manifest the unity, and the Roman Church, who retains the memory of Peter, is the centre of the catholic communion : Peter did not have more than the other Apostles and the pre-eminence of the Roman Church does not means she enjoys a superior doctrinal or disciplinary authority. Optatus of Milevis and even Augustine were as a matter of fact, with original nuances, and adaptations with regard to Cyprian, successors of him, and successors who, until the VI century, had themselves descendants in Africa. The African ecclesiology did not stop during the Early Middle Ages, then, later, in the modern period, to exert its influence. It may today play a role within the Roman Catholic Church and in the ecumenical dialogue, between Churches having a historic episcopate.