He was educated at Candida Casa in Whithorn and baptised by a Celtic cleric named Paulinus.
A contemporary of Saint Serf,[2] according to Alban Butler, Ternan was a monk at Culross, which had been founded by St.
[3] Ternan established a small monastery on the north side of the River Dee near the current graveyard in what is now the town of Banchory.
As well as preaching the Christian gospel, he and his followers taught the local people farming, arts and crafts.
The story of Ternan features two key artifacts, his copy of Matthew's Gospel and his bell or "Ronnecht": He is mentioned, along with Saints Brendan, Michael etc., in some blessings and incantations, such as the milking croon of South Uist, collected by Alexander Carmichael in the Hebrides in the 1880s.