This is the fifth “Station of the Cross” in St. Raphael’s Cathedral, Dubuque, Iowa
(Wikimedia Commons)
Compare Matthew 27:38; Mark 15:27; John 19:18
Simon of Cyrene came from the city of Cyrene, a Greek colony in North Africa that had a very large Jewish-minority population. Its ruins survive in today’s Libya, and that region of the country is still often called Cyrenaica even today.
(Wikimedia Commons; click to enlarge)
The fact that Simon’s sons Alexander and Rufus are mentioned in Mark suggests that they were known to Mark’s audience (possibly in Rome), and, very likely, that they (and perhaps Simon himself) had become Christians.
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