Pilgrimage by Julie Stielstra

I left the ashes today. Walked the 3 miles up from Assisi to Francis’s hermitage. Dug a spot in the woods on the hill under ivy and ferns, and read all the names out loud. Cats, dogs, horses…Francis will have to look after them for us now.

BIO: Julie wrote, My previous fiction has appeared in Zahir Tales, Potomac Review, New Plains Review, Bellevue Literary Review, and as a 7-story eChapbook (Protected Contact and Other Stories) by WordRunner Press. My historical novel, Pilgrim, (in which Francis of Assisi makes an appearance), was named the winner of Minerva Rising’s 2016 novella contest. Meadowlark Books will be releasing my youth novel, Opulence, Kansas, later this year.

Photos from Julie and also Wikipedia