Martyr Callistratus and 49 Martyrs in his company

Callistratus came from Carthage and served in a Roman regiment under the commander Persentinus. According to his Life, fellow soldiers noticed him praying at night and reported that he was a Christian. His faith, the Life says, came down to him from his grandfather Neocorus, a soldier who had been at the crucifixion of Jesus in Jerusalem.

Persentinus had him tortured and ordered him thrown into the sea in a leather sack; the Life tells that he came to the shore unharmed, and that forty-nine fellow soldiers then believed. They were thrown into water and said to have been baptized there, and that night were killed with swords in prison. The Church dates this to 304.