A catechumen and servant martyred at Carthage around 203, one of the companions of Saints Perpetua and Felicity.

Saint Revocatus was a laymen and servant martyred at Carthage, in present-day Tunisia, around the year 203, remembered as a companion of Saint Perpetua. He belonged to the group of catechumens, including Perpetua, Felicity, and their fellow believers, who were arrested and executed under Roman persecution and whose martyrdom became one of early Christianity’s most famous accounts, the Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity. Revocatus himself is documented chiefly through his membership in that group rather than through an independent biography.

Quick Facts

• Died: c. 203, at Carthage, Tunisia
• Venerated as: Layman, servant, and martyr
• Companion: Saint Perpetua and her fellow martyrs
• Feast Day: March 7 (with Saints Perpetua and Felicity)

Who Was Saint Revocatus?

Saint Revocatus was a servant and catechumen martyred at Carthage around the year 203, remembered as a companion of Saint Perpetua. He was among the small group of catechumens preparing for baptism who were arrested together and put to death under Roman persecution, an event recorded in the celebrated early Christian text known as the Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity. His own individual story is not separately detailed, but his place within that group secures his memory.

Historical Setting

Carthage in the early third century was a major center of North African Christianity, and the persecution that claimed Revocatus and his companions took place under an edict restricting conversion to Judaism and Christianity, issued during the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus. The account of Perpetua’s imprisonment and death, which includes references to her companions such as Revocatus, is among the very few surviving eyewitness-style narratives of early Christian martyrdom, making this group’s witness unusually well attested for its period.

Why the Church Remembers Saint Revocatus

The Church remembers Saint Revocatus as one of the companions who shared in the martyrdom later immortalized through Perpetua’s own account, a text still read and honored today. As a servant and catechumen, not yet formally baptized by the Church’s ordinary rite when he was arrested, his death alongside the others is understood in the tradition as a baptism of blood, uniting him fully to Christ’s sacrifice.

Canonization and Feast Day

No formal canonisation process in the modern sense is recorded for Saint Revocatus, consistent with his martyrdom around 203, many centuries before such Roman processes existed. His veneration rests on an ancient and well-attested cult, received through the Church’s liturgical memory and reinforced by the surviving Passion narrative of Perpetua and her companions.

What Catholics Can Learn Today

Revocatus, a servant not yet formally received into the Church, died as fully united to Christ as any of his companions, a powerful reminder that status and standing mean nothing before the sincerity of faith. For Catholics today, his witness affirms that every believer, regardless of social position, is called to the same complete fidelity.

A Prayer to Saint Revocatus

Saint Revocatus, servant and martyr, pray for those whose faith is still taking shape, that they too may find courage to remain true to Christ. Remind us that no one is too humble or too new to the faith to be counted among God’s faithful witnesses. Amen.

Sources

• Butler’s Lives of the Saints
• New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia, entry on the Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity
• Roman Martyrology