Who was St. Dismas?

Who were the two thieves?

All four Gospel accounts related the fact that Jesus was crucified along with two other men. According to Luke’s account, one of the thieves mocked Jesus, while the other thief recognized that Jesus was the Christ, humbled himself, and received a great gift.

“Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, ‘If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.’
But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.’ Then he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.’
And Jesus said to him, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.’” (Luke 23:39-43)

Gestas and Dismas

Nowhere in the Bible is this man named, but many Christians attribute the name “Dismas” to him based on a writing called The Acts of Pilate—sometimes called The Gospel of Nicodemus—which was an apocryphal gospel written some four-hundred years after the composition of the original gospels. While the Gospel of Nicodemus is not a canonical Christian text and has a variety of non-Christian themes in it, it’s not impossible that it may have accurately preserved the names of certain Biblical figures that the Bible did not record—though there is no way to say whether the name “Dismas” is correct.

Historically, the name “Dismas” for the repentant thief stuck, as did the name for the less-popular, unrepentant thief, “Gestas.” The Gospel of Nicodemus also seems to be where we get the name “Longinus” for the soldier who pieced Christ’s side with a spear. But other traditions give their own names. The Russians refer to the repentant thief as “Rakh,” while the (much later) Arabic Infancy Gospel refers to him as “Titus” and the unrepentant thief as “Dumachus.”

Was St. Dismas a real saint?

It depends on what you mean by “real saint.” The name Dismas was officially accepted by the Catholic church, where he is considered a canonical saint.

In the Eastern Orthodox church, he is generally referred to as “the repentant thief” or the “penitent thief” rather than being named, though he is still understood to be saved because of what Christ very explicitly told him.

The story: why was St. Dismas crucified?

According to the Gospels, Dismas was crucified because he was a criminal, specifically a thief. Later traditions have added other elements to the story, but they aren’t consistent in how they present him.

Feast day

In the Catholic church, St. Dismas is commemorated on March 25^th. In Eastern Orthodoxy he is remembered on Good Friday in the following verse:

“Eden's locked gates the Thief has opened wide,
By putting in the key, ‘Remember me.’”

Prayer of St. Dismas

You can find different prayers of the saints on many Catholic archival websites. Daily-prayers.org lists a few prayers for St. Dismas:

Prayer To St. Dismas

Saint Dismas, you alone were Canonized a Saint by Christ Himself;
you were assured of a place in Heaven with Him, “This day”
because you confessed your sins to Him on Calvary;
and you were truly sorry for them as you hung beside Him on a cross;
you who opened the Heart of Jesus in mercy and forgiveness
even before the centurion’s spear tore it asunder;
you whose face was close to that of Jesus in His last agony,
to offer Him a word of comfort;
you who knew how to pray,
teach me the words to say to gain pardon for my sins;
and you who are close to Him now in Heaven,
pray to Him for me that I shall never again desert Him,
but that at the close of my life I may hear the words He addressed to you:
“This day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise.” Amen.

In Eastern Orthodoxy, the repentant thief is remembered in every liturgy, in one of the traditional prayers that’s said right before communion: “I will not speak of Thy Mystery to Thine enemies, neither like Judas will I give Thee a kiss; but like the thief will I confess Thee: Remember me, O Lord in Thy Kingdom.” Part of the purpose of this prayer is to get the faithful into the proper mindset of humility and repentance as they approach the holy mysteries so that they too may partake of life.

Miracles

There aren’t any major miracles attributed to St. Dismas. Normally miracles after death are one of the main signs that the church looks for in canonizing a saint, but in the case of the repentant thief, Christ’s own words, “today you shall be with me in paradise” are enough!