World

SAINT PROFILE: DISMAS 8

First Century; Feast- March 25

By CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE     3/23/2018

Two thieves were crucified with Christ; Dismas is the “good thief” who rebuked the other thief for reviling Jesus. In Luke’s Gospel, he accepts his guilt and proclaims Christ’s innocence. He asks Jesus to remember him, and Jesus promises, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” This feast date was assigned because by tradition Jesus died on March 25. But how an unnamed thief came to be called Dismas is less clear. One explanation is that early Syrian representations of the Crucifixion showed a sun and moon over the thieves’ heads; Syrian coins also showed a sun and moon with the words “east” and “west.” And “dismas” is similar to the Greek word for east. Dismas is a patron of funeral directors, prisoners and repentant thieves.