DISMAS, the Good Thief, Saint. - From the Greek ὄναμή, "dying," he is the well-known figure who was converted at the point of death on Calvary, crucified at the right hand of Jesus, of whom St. Luke speaks (Lk. 23:40-43). The name, unknown to the Evangelist, is given by the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, of the 3rd century (ch. 10); in the Infancy Gospel, likewise apocryphal and contemporary, he is instead called Titus (ch. 23).

Exalted and venerated by the Fathers of the East and of the West, his cult spread especially after the supposed discovery of his cross, together with that of Jesus, particularly in southern Italy, where the city of Gallipoli (province of Taranto) also chose him as its patron. From the 16th century onward many dioceses and religious Congregations celebrated his liturgical office. By the Greeks he is commemorated on March 23 and by the Latins on the 25th of the same month.

Bibliography6 works

BIBL.: C. Baronio, Martyr. Romanum, Venice 1902, p. 177 ff.; Acta SS. Martii, III, Paris 1865, p. 541 ff.; K. Tischendorf, Evangelia apocrypha, Leipzig 1876, pp. 192 ff., 361; G. Gaume, Storia del Buon Ladrone, Italian trans. by L. Dragonetti, Prato 1879; E. Hennecke, Neutestamentliche Apokryphen, K. Tübingen 1929, p. 78; Martyr. Romanum, p. 112.

Agostino Amore

@incollection{ec4_dismas_il_buon_ladrone_santo, author = {Amore, Agostino}, title = {Dismas, il buon ladrone, santo}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IV}, pages = {1748}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/dismas-il-buon-ladrone-santo} }

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Dismas, the Good Thief, Saint

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