Saint Dismas: An Intercessor for Desperate Causes

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

Saint of the Day, Feb. 14, 1972

Sculptures of Saint Dismas 19th century, St. Augustine Parish Church of Baliuag (Philippines) – Wikipedia

“A Roman and Apostolic Catholic, the author of this text submits himself with filial devotion to the traditional teaching of Holy Church. However, if by an oversight anything is found in it at variance with that teaching, he immediately and categorically rejects it.”

 The words “Revolution” and “Counter-Revolution” are employed here in the sense given to them by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira in his book Revolution and Counter-Revolution, the first edition of which was published in the monthly Catolicismo, Nº 100, April 1959.

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Saint Dismas believed in the promise of Our Lady, and She finally rescued him at the last minute. He is the intercessor for all desperate causes and for perfect contrition at the hour of death.

According to Fr. Emmanuel d’Alzon, founder of the Assumptionists in Belo Horizonte, the most beautiful history of Saint Dismas was written by Saint Anselm in a letter to his sisters that included a meditation on the childhood of the Savior. If this story is at times doubted by modern men, it was nevertheless unanimously accepted during the time of the great Bishop of Canterbury.

It was the time of the massacre of the Holy Innocents. Saint Joseph, Our Lady and the Divine Infant were fleeing from Herod. Leaving Bethlehem, the Holy Family entered the land of Egypt, which Sacred Scriptures calls the country of sin from which God had withdrawn His people, a country that the sacrifice of Christ alone could redeem. On this flight into the country of the devil, Jesus, Mary and Joseph entered a forest inhabited by criminals, including Dismas.

Born and raised among malefactors, Dismas was a murderer and a thief, but some diffuse graces still lay unrejected in the depths of his soul. One day, lying in wait for some potential victim, Dismas saw a man and a young woman carrying a Child. The three voyagers had some luggage, perhaps some gifts from the Magi Kings reserved for their long trip. Dismas figured this defenseless caravan would offer no resistance. Saint Joseph’s staff caused him no fear, and he advanced to attack them.

At that point, however, his eyes fell on the Child Jesus, and he stopped, profoundly moved by the glorious beauty and majesty of His countenance. Instead of harming the travelers, he protected them and hosted them in his cave.

This is how Divine Providence helped the Holy Family, this time not with an Angel but with a thief who played the role of a good Angel. Dismas offered them everything he had, and the Divine Child allowed Himself to be caressed by that criminal. The next day, seeing the thief’s great respect for the Child, Mary Most Holy solemnly assured him that he would be rewarded for his action before his death. Amid his life of crime, Dismas always kept the memory of that promise, believing that it would be fulfilled.

No one knows what the life of this thief was like during the 33 years of the life of Our Lord. Yet he appears along with the other thief Gestas, carrying his cross to be killed along with Jesus Christ. However, his crimes had so darkened his soul that he was unable to recognize Jesus or Mary.

On Mount Calvary, the crosses were raised and for three hours Dismas, like Our Lord, watched the blaspheming crowd that represented the whole world. He also joined in the blasphemies. But Mary recognized him in a glance and prayed for him. As the sixth hour approached, the long shadow of Our Lord’s cross fell over the body of Dismas. At that point Gestas cried out: “If you are the Christ, save yourself and us as well.”

However, the shadows of the divine wounds penetrated the heart of Dismas, and he was heard to say: “Don’t you fear God, even condemned to the same punishment as His? We are receiving a just and deserved punishment, but He has done no evil.”

After this supreme confession, made with contrition, Dismas, now transformed into a good thief, uttered a sublime act of faith, hope and charity: “Remember me, Lord, when Thou shalt come into Thy Kingdom.”

And Jesus said to him: “Amen I say to you, this day you will be with Me in Paradise.” At that moment, Jesus fulfilled Mary’s promise, and Dismas undoubtedly recognized Our Lady at the foot of the Cross as he was dying. Purified by the sacrifice of Christ, the good thief received the first fruits of the Redemption.

Saint Dismas is considered the patron saint of those condemned to death, of those who would like to make restitution for ill-gained goods before they die but do not know how, of great sinners and prodigal sons, of souls close to despair because they sinned or are persecuted. Saint Dismas also helps to preserve souls from dying in final impenitence.

I believe that this narration of Saint Anselm could not be more beautiful, and it is filled with lessons. As Father d’Alzon adroitly puts it, it matters little whether the events took place exactly as Saint Anselm describes. What matters is the moral interpretation of Saint Anselm, which indicates how divine grace acts in souls.

Here we have the history of a soul, that of Saint Dismas, where a seeming contradiction exists: a man raised among criminals, who receives the worst possible influences. Yet he always had sufficient grace to carry out God’s will, since grace is lacking to no one. The truth is that he did not correspond to grace and went down a bad path.

However, since his childhood, Saint Anselm says, some unrejected secret graces lay deep in his soul. Saint Anselm presents the story of a soul that has sinned much, for whom God has and maintains a mysterious design of mercy in spite of sin. In spite of all his sins and infidelities, that design is anchored in his soul so that, come what may, the merciful design is finally accomplished. So he sins and commits all kinds of atrocities, but in the depths of his soul, he preserves a secret hope that in the end he will repent and be forgiven and a new road would open up for him.

So we see the hideous yet charming episode of the attack he planned against the Holy Family. He saw the small caravan – a man and a maiden riding a small donkey and carrying a child. He figured it would be a good opportunity to rob them and advanced. But looking at the Child Jesus, he was disarmed and lacked the courage to attack.

What a beautiful encounter of those two souls! A criminal, in whose soul grace still throbs with life, and who is moved to compassion when he sees the Child Jesus—something other bandits would not do. He stops, and stands back enchanted. Our Lady thanks him and promises him a reward.
As the Holy Family continues on its way to Egypt, Dismas slides back into his life of sin and so his life goes on until a moment when the hope that burned deep inside his heart seemed doomed.

Condemned to death, he carried his cross to Calvary, was raised up on it, and hope of salvation had almost disappeared. Did he think about that hope? I believe that some graces are so strong that a person never loses hope even to the last moment. Perhaps this is why he was saved when that moment finally arrived.

While hanging on the cross, he does not recognize Our Lord at first. At a certain moment he finally does. Saint Anselm describes a highly poetic scene. As the sun sets, the shadow of the Cross of Our Lord becomes longer, falling upon Dismas. As that happens, his soul is changed; he is touched by the wounds of Christ and asks forgiveness. While the other thief blasphemes, Dismas’ soul opens itself to grace completely. Our Lord immediately forgives Him, thus fulfilling that hope he had long carried in his soul. Our Lord tells him: “This day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise.”

This life has many lessons. First, we should never lose hope, and the Church teaches us this with her incomparable tact and eloquence, which combine intransigent severity with that maternal and enchanting mercy that could never be sufficiently praised. The Church has designated Saint Dismas the patron saint of all the afflicted and desperate.

As you know, he is the patron of those who have embezzled money or goods and would like to make restitution before they die in order to obtain absolution, but do not know how. Imagine someone with a long illness, to whom the doctor says, “my friend, it is likely, though not certain, that you will die this month.” He lives in comfort and luxury but owes his fortunes to dishonest practices. And, now as the moment of death approaches, the Church denies him absolution unless he makes restitution for his ill-gotten goods. To be forgiven, the man has to face the shame of declaring himself a thief before his family and friends; he also faces the possibility he may yet recover and thenceforth live a life of public scorn and poverty.

Holy Church, very maternal in receiving the thief back in her arms and opening the gates of heaven to him, is nonetheless very demanding about this restitution. Filled with pity on the poor sinner, she tells him; you have a patron, Saint Dismas. I find this a magnificent equilibrium of the Church, an expression of her sanctity and divinity; because a non-divine Church could not take sanctity to this point – this equilibrium exceeds all that we poor men could exercise. It is not a false pity: “poor fellow, let us allow him to die in peace. Look, you don’t have to return anything.” It is not a harshness that says: “miserable thief, you don’t repent? Now moan and cry like a thief.” She says: “my son, you are suffering. I have pity on you, pray to Saint Dismas. Look how he resembles you. Yet his prayer was heeded. Pray that you obtain that your miserable conditions of soul are transformed and you will still go to heaven.”

This shows an openness, kindness, goodness and exorability symmetrical with divine intransigence and which makes us understand the two faces of the Church, the two aspects that give Her this perfection that we observe in all things Catholic. There is a kind of permanent and harmonious antithesis of virtues that seem contradictory but are not, because there is contradiction only between virtue and vice, good and evil. There is no contradiction between virtue and virtue, vice and vice. Basically, all virtues are homogeneous and aligned on one side; and while evils can seemingly clash with one another, deep down they have only one source, the serpent.

So you understand how someone in their last moments hears that Saint Dismas was pardoned at the last minute, thinks: in my last minute, Saint Dismas will give me strength! Then he calls a priest and says, “Father, please have a public will notarized, in which I return such and such goods. I want to die in peace.” And, if he eventually heals, he will live peacefully in poverty because Our Lady will give him graces and strength for everything.

This is the great teaching we have here: the extreme mercy of Providence through Our Lady, who is the channel of all graces, even in the most difficult and intricate cases. One is flabbergasted at seeing how many things the Church has placed under the patronage of Saint Dismas: it is a whole litany of misery. He is the patron of those condemned to death; of the unfortunate ones who engage in dishonest business, do not want to die in that state, and do not know how to make restitution. He is the patron of great sinners, of prodigal sons, etc.

So all great sinners who did terrible sins can look to Saint Dismas and say: “You, who were as bad as I or even worse, obtain for me the same mercy you obtained for yourself. You know well what it is to be a crook. You know what it is like for a soul to be stuck in the mud with only a glimmer of hope left and all else is bad. Have pity on me and take me under your patronage. I trust that I will be given what you were given, and that the hour of my death, I will hear my Guardian Angel saying the words Our Lord addressed to you: “Today you will be with me in Paradise!”

Saint Dismas is also patron of prodigal sons, those who left the paternal home, who are decadent and ungrateful. He follows and helps them, as well as the souls who are discouraged because their affairs are not doing well or because they sinned or are persecuted. How many people become discouraged because their spiritual life is doing poorly. Let them ask Saint Dismas, who solves all irresolvable situations.

We need to begin by understanding that, at that time, there was no such thing as confession and that a criminal could not even have the hope, as we do, of having a priest give him absolution. There was repentance, but up until what point is it sincere? Up to what point is it due to mere fear of eternal punishment or out of pure love of God? In how many afflictions like these would a soul sink into despair at the hour of death! But no, Saint Dismas is there to pray for that soul.

Saint Dismas frees from final impenitence the souls who are discouraged because of persecution. If someone is afraid of dying without repenting for his sins, he should often pray to Saint Dismas. This is more than a merely a similar situation; and the similarity really invites the saint to protect another who is going through the same difficulty.

Imagine that one of you goes to heaven and from there you see another going through the same dire straits you went through here. Would you not be naturally and especially inclined to help? Obviously. But, there is more. Our Lord chose Saint Dismas as a symbol of His mercy. At the moment He died, in addition to giving all His blood and life and all that He wanted to suffer, He gave a token of how His forgiveness extends even to extreme situations. At His last hour, He made the first canonization and the first canonization of a crook converted suddenly after all sorts of ingratitude. As if to say, “If you confide in a mercy that completely challenges your capacity to understand and goes beyond all imagination, your soul will be saved.” This is what we should ask Saint Dismas. As he was given as a symbol of mercy for all times, may he serve as an encouragement to our poor souls as well.

Our Lady recognized him and prayed for him and through Her prayer he was converted. Note that the cross of Saint Dismas stood on the side where Our Lady was standing. If we always try to be on the side Our Lady is, then all things will work out because this is of the utmost importantance. Mater misericordiae, vita, dulcedo et spes nostra, salve. Oh Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, our hope.