March 25th. St. Dismas.

The traditional name of the 'Good Thief' of Calvary to whom Jesus said "Today you will be with me in Paradise." The name Dismas is an adaptation of a Greek word for 'sunset' or 'death', not found in the four Gospels but used in the apocryphal 'Gospel of Nicodemus'. Another apocryphal Gospel, the 'Gospel of Childhood', fancifully makes Dismas a member of a robber band who ambushed the Holy Family on their refugee journey to Egypt, but released them when they recognised their holiness. In medieval times Dismas was appropriately patron of repentant thieves and prisoners. In the liturgy of the Orthodox Churches of Greece, Russia, etc., the words of Dismas to Jesus on the Cross are spoken just before Holy Communion: "Receive me, O God, at your mystical supper; remember me, Lord, in your kingdom."