A boy martyr in Bath

In a previous blog post we saw an image of the High Altar of the chapel of Our Lady of the Snows at Prior Park College in Bath. Here it is again (above). This beautiful marble altar contains the complete relics of a child martyr named Lelius. Here is the inscription on the back of the altar. It reads ‘corpus S. Lelii pueri martyris’.

Unfortunately St Lelius is not mentioned in the Roman martyrology. A plausible explanation for this is that he was one of a group of martyrs and therefore not mentioned individually.

How fitting for a school – and one that was for many years educating boys only – to have the relics of a boy martyr in its chapel. We can hope with confidence that St Lelius interceded for the teachers and pupils at Prior Park, and that he will continue to do so today.

The Christian Martyrs' last prayer by Jean-Leon Gerome

We will try and find out more about St Lelius and report any findings in a future post. In the meantime, if anyone has any information about St Lelius and the connection with Prior Park, do please let us know in the comments box below.