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 (chap. 10); in the Gospel of the Infancy, likewise apocryphal and contemporary, he is instead called Titus (chap. 23).
Extolled and venerated by the Fathers of East and West, his cult spread especially after the alleged 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. He is commemorated by the Greeks on 23 March and by the Latins on the 25th of the same month.