#avettes

HAVE PATIENCE TO WALK WITH SHORT STEPS

“Have patience to walk with short steps till you have legs to run with, or rather wings to fly.  Be content yet a while to be a little nympha*, soon you will become a full-formed bee.”–Saint Francis de Sales to a Religious of the Visitation  in Letters to Persons in Religion  ‎(Aeterna Press, 2015) page 133.

* The newly hatched and undeveloped bees are called Nymphs: when they have their wings, Francis de Sales calls them Avettes, from the Latin word Apicula.

In the original French:

“Ayez patience d'aller le petit pas jusqu'à ce que vous ayez des jambes à courir, ou plutôt des ailes à voler. Soyez volontiers pour encore une petite nymphe, bientôt vous deviendrez une brave avette.”  –Francois de Sales