We are also living in times in which cultures are meeting", in which "the danger is violence destroying cultures": therefore, "the commitment to hand down great values must start from there; great values must be taught to the new generations, by means of reconciliation and peace". With those words, spoken off the cuff, the Pope concluded today’s general audience. He rendered the message of Marco Aurelius Cassiodorus present-day. Cassiodorus was the "protagonist", with Boethius, of the catechesis pronounced by Benedict XVI in front of about 13 thousand believers.” “Born in Squillace, Calabria, Italy, towards 485, he died when he was "full of days" in 580, approximately. He was actually over 90 years old. Cassiodorus, like Boethius, was a man "of high social level", who "dedicated himself to political life and culture like few others in the Roman West of his time". In particular, "he conceived the idea of entrusting monks with the task of recovering, preserving and handing down to new generations the immense cultural heritage of the ancients, taking care it would not get lost". ” “For this reason, Cassiodorus established "Vivarium", a cenoby where "the intellectual work of the monks was very precious and indefeasible". According to Cassiodorus, "the search for God is the permanent objective of monastic life"; however, "a better exploitation of the revealed Word may be obtained through the use of scientific advances and the profane cultural instruments already owned by the Greeks and the Romans".” “
