DEOGRATIAS, saint. — Elected bishop of Carthage in 454, with the favor of the emperor Valens,
during the three years of his episcopate he exercised great charity toward the Roman slaves brought to Africa by Genseric in 455. To ransom and feed them, D. did not hesitate to sell even the sacred vessels; he housed them in two basilicas, where he went with great solicitude by day and by night to visit the sick. For this he suffered greatly at the hands of the Arians, who also attempted to kill him. He died in 457 and is commemorated in the Martyr. Romanum on 23 January.
BIBL.: Vittore Vitense, Hist. persec. africanae provinciae, I, 8 (ed. C. Halm in MGH, Auctores, III, p. 7); Acta SS. Martii, III, Paris 1865, p. 382. Agostino Amore