2013-02-24

Where is St. Simon?

And going out, they found a man of Cyrene, named Simon: him they forced to take up his cross.
(Matthew 27:32)

And they forced one Simon a Cyrenian who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and of Rufus, to take up his cross. And they bring him into the place called Golgotha, which being interpreted is, The place of Calvary.
(Mark 15:21-22)

Does Pope Benedict XVI have a Simon of Cyrene? Does he only have soldiers pushing him to die before the crucifixion?

St. John says that Christ went out carrying his own cross, while the other three evangelists state that they forced Simon of Cyrene to carry it for him. Both are true: for seeing Christ unequal to the weight, they compelled the other to take it up for him; not a part only, as some painters represent, but the whole, to Mount Calvary, as Jesus Christ had carried the whole before. -St. Augustine of Canterbury

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