Image Details

Louvre, Paris, France/Peter Willi/Bridgeman Art Library

Relieving Jesus’ distress, Simon of Cyrene bears the cross as Jesus falters on the way to the Crucifixion, in a 17th-century painting by French artist Eustache Le Sueur. (The woman on the right is St. Veronica, who is not mentioned in the Bible, but who according to later Christian tradition wiped Jesus’ brow with her veil.) The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke all agree on the identity of the man who helped carry Jesus’ cross—he was Simon of Cyrene.