St. Simon of Cyrene

Almost everyone knows who this man was. The fifth station on the Via Dolorosa tells us that he helped Jesus to carry his cross to Calvary.  He was compelled by the Romans to carry the cross of Jesus of Nazareth as Jesus was taken to his crucifixion, according to all three Synoptic Gospels. "And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross." Cyrene was located in northern Africa in eastern Libya. A Greek city in the province of Cyrenaica, it had a Jewish community where 100,000 Judean Jews had been forced to settle during the reign of Ptolemy Soter (323–285 BC) and was an early center of Christianity. The Cyrenian Jews had a synagogue in Jerusalem, where many went for annual feasts. The Church honors him as a saint whose feast is celebrated on December 1.