vocatus

Vocatus is a Latin term that functions as both the perfect passive participle of the verb vocare and as an adjective meaning “called” or “summoned.” It stems from the root vocare, meaning to call, and shares its meaning with related words such as vocatio (a calling) and vocation in English. As a participle, vocatus agrees in gender, number, and case with the noun it modifies. Thus forms include masculine singular vocatus, feminine singular vocata, neuter singular vocatum; plural forms are vocati (masc.), vocatae (fem.), vocata (neut.). In use, it conveys a completed or resultant state of being called, not a simple present action.

In ordinary Latin syntax, vocatus can appear within sentences as a participle: for example, vocatus est means “he has been called.” It can also function as a noun in a substantival sense, where the masculine form vocatus (and its feminine and neuter counterparts) refers to “the called one” or “the called person,” depending on agreement with a surrounding noun.

In ecclesiastical and religious contexts, vocatus is related to the broader concept of vocation (Latin vocatio), the sense of a divine or vocational calling to a particular state of life, such as priesthood or religious life. In ecclesiastical Latin, discussions of a person’s discernment or acceptance into a religious vocation often employ the related noun vocatio, while vocatus appears as the descriptive participle or substantive referring to the individual who has received the calling.

See also: vocatio, vocare, vocation.