DISMAS, the Good Thief, saint. — From the Greek δυσμάχι, “moribund,” he is the well-known figure converted at the point of death on Calvary, crucified to the right of Jesus, of whom St. Luke speaks (Lk. 23:40–43). The name, unknown to the Evangelist, is given in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus of the 3rd century (ch. 10); in the apocryphal Gospel of the Infancy, likewise apocryphal and contemporary, he is called Titus (ch. 23).
Exalted and venerated by the Fathers of the East and West, his cult spread especially after the presumed discovery of his cross, together with that of Jesus, particularly in southern Italy, where the city of Gallipoli (province of Taranto) chose him as its patron. Beginning in the 16th century, many dioceses and religious congregations celebrated his liturgical office. The Greeks commemorate him on March 23 and the Latins on the 25th of the same month.