 The
Carthusian way of life in the Chartreuse de Valbonne spanned seven
centuries - centuries which didn't escape the waves of history.
So through bad times and good, throughout successive demolitions, restorations and embellishments, the Carthusian
monks remained faithful to this place, which they only left for
good in 1901, when the Combes law forced them into exile.
From then on, the Chartreuse de Valbonne knew difficult times, until
August 18, 1926. On that day, in Uzes, the pastor Philadelphe
Delord, a former missionary in New Caledonia, and Director
of the A.S.V.M.T., the "Association de Secours aux Victimes des Maladies Tropicales " (Association for the Treatment of Victims of Tropical Diseases), bought the Carthusian monastery with funds proffered by an American
missionary society (American Mission to Lepers). This organization was itself directed by a friend of Philadelphe Delord, Doctor Justin ABBOT, who had dedicated his life to helping
lepers. It was a veritable act of faith which permitted pastor Delord to found
the association and to create this "House of Welcome", so dear to
his heart, in this beautiful monastery.
The sanatorium of Valbonne was officially recognized by the Ministry of Health which granted it the indispensable approvals to function legally within the framework of the laws on hospitals. The first leper arrived in Valbonne on August 28, 1929.
In the 1960's treatments for leprosy began to prove their effectiveness.
Thanks to advances in medical treatment, it was no longer necessary
to hospitalize patients. Leprosy no longer required quarantine, as
all risk of contagion was excluded after the first treatment. The
association wished to maintain the service of leprology
until the last patient, but it was then necessary to search for
a new orientation.
In 1975 the association established a psychiatric care center
in the Carthusian monastery, which was dedicated to re-insertion and occupational
rehabilitation.
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Hamlet of Ventabren
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In 1992 it created therapeutic apartments in Pont-Saint-Esprit
and a Help-Through-Work center in the monastery. In 1995, it
opened a mental health center and housing for workers
of the Help-Through-Work center in the hamlet of Ventabren, in
Pont-Saint-Esprit.
In 2001 a major plan for the reorganization of activities was approved by trustee
authorities. The plan calls for the reorganization and decentralization of the health care activities, and increasing the capacity of the social welfare structures.
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