Saint Martyr Terentius and his companions suffered during the reign of Emperor Decius (249–251). The emperor issued a decree requiring all subjects to offer sacrifices to pagan idols. Covering himself with terrible tortures, the governor of Africa Fortunatian summoned the people and urged them to offer sacrifices. Many, frightened, agreed, but forty Christians, led by Saint Terentius, courageously declared their fidelity to the Savior.
Fortunatian, astonished by their bravery, imprisoned Terentius and three of his friends in a dungeon. The other martyrs, not yielding to persuasion and torture, continued to confess Christ. They endured suffering but did not weaken in faith. In the temple, after offering sacrifices to the idols, the martyrs called upon God, and the idols fell and shattered, and the temple was destroyed. Enraged, Fortunatian ordered their execution.
After the execution of the 36 martyrs, he summoned Terentius and his friends, but they refused to offer sacrifices. Fortunatian shackled them and ordered them to be starved in the dungeon. But at night, the Angel of the Lord removed the shackles from the martyrs. In the morning, they were cheerful, and Fortunatian ordered snakes to be brought into the dungeon. The snakes, ignoring the incantations, attacked the conjurers. Enraged, the governor ordered the holy martyrs to be beheaded, and the Christians buried them with honor outside the city.
