DEOGRATIAS, Saint. — Elected bishop of Carthage in 454, with the favor of Emperor Valens, he exercised during the three years of his episcopate great charity in favor of the Roman slaves led into Africa by Gaiseric in 455. To free and feed them, D. did not hesitate even to sell the sacred vessels; he housed them in two basilicas where he went with great diligence day and night to visit the sick. He suffered much on this account at the hands of the Arians, who even attempted to kill him. He died in 457, and is commemorated in the *Roman Martyrology* on January 23.
BIBL.: Victor of Vita, *Historia persecutionis Africanae provinciae*, I, 8 (ed. C. Halm in MGH, *Auctores*, III, p. 7); *Acta Sanctorum*, March, III, Paris 1865, p. 382.