Be sure to celebrate the day by throwing crab apples at your local priest.  What fun!

July 17:  Saint Kenelm

Saint Kenelm (or Cynehelm) was an Anglo-Saxon saint, venerated throughout medieval England, and mentioned in the Canterbury Tales (the Nun's Priest's Tale, lines 290–301, in which the cock Chaunteecleer tries to demonstrate the reality of prophetic dreams to his wife Pertelote). William of Malmesbury, writing in the 12th century, recounted that "there was no place in England to which more pilgrims travelled than to Winchcombe on Kenelm's feast day".  (Winchcombe Abbey became prosperous with many pilgrims coming to venerate St. Kenelm’s tomb.  Sadly, the abbey was destroyed by King Henry VIII and nothing is left.)

In legend, St Kenelm was a member of the royal family of Mercia, a boy king and martyr, murdered by an ambitious relative despite receiving a prophetic dream warning him of the danger. His body, after being concealed, was discovered by miraculous intervention, and transported by the Monks of Winchcombe to a major shrine. There it remained for several hundred years. The two locales most closely linked to this legend are the Clent Hills, south of Birmingham, England, identified as the scene of his murder, and the small Gloucestershire town of Winchcombe, near Cheltenham, where his body was interred.

The small church of St Kenelm, dating from the 15th century in a village called Kenelstowe, now stands with a handful of houses within the larger village of Romsley in the Clent Hills.

For many years, villagers celebrated St Kenelm's Day (July 17) with a village fair and the ancient custom of "crabbing the parson" - bombarding the unfortunate cleric with a volley of crab apples.

Historic Facts

Like many medieval hagiographies, St Kenelm's legend appears to bear little relation to any known facts. It can be ascertained from the wider historical record that, on the death of Offa of Mercia, his son Ecgfrith of Mercia was crowned but his reign lasted only 20 weeks and he was presumably killed in battle. He was succeeded by a distant cousin, Coenwulf of Mercia, whose son was Kenelm (Cynehelm),[3] and this would appear to be the reputed saint. It is likely that Coenwulf 'hallowed' Kenelm to the throne, for a letter dated 798, allegedly from Pope Leo III to "King Kenelm", names Kenelm and gives his age as 12. In 799, Kenelm witnessed a deed of gift of land to Christ Church, Canterbury, and from 803 onwards his name appears on a variety of charters. The year 811 sees no more mention of Kenelm; this was likely his death year. This all points to Kenelm being 25 years old when he died, not a mere child of 7 years old. Historical records also indicate that Kenelm's sister, Cwenthryth (Quendryda), had entered the cloister at the time of her father's death and was the abbess of Minster-in-Thanet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Kenelm