PRESENTATION
OF THE VILLA SAINT CAMILLE
Foundations
Saint Camille de Lellis (1550-1614)
This Italian teenager, born in Buccianico, near Thienne in Abruzzo, in the Kingdom of Naples, orphan and without fortune had a dissipated youth.
He joined the Spanish army to fight the Turks. One unlucky day, he loses everything he owns in gambling. He's being kicked out of the army. He then did all kinds of jobs to end up as a servant in a Capuchin convent. And that’s where he was converted. As he does nothing by halves, he asks for admission. But an incurable ulcer on his leg prevented him from entering the religious state. Camille enters the Saint-Jacques hospital in Rome for treatment. He is so struck by the distress of the other patients that he joins as a nurse. The indifference of his colleagues towards the sick upsets him. He sets out to reform all of this. By caring for the sick, it is Christ's wounds that he heals. His radiant charity attracted young disciples to him.
These volunteers, who meet to pray together and compete in tenderness towards the sick, constitute the initial core of the Regular Clerks of the Infirm who will later be familiarly called the "Camillians". It was in 1586 that Pope Sixtus V recognized the Congregation and authorized the wearing of the large red cross on their cassock. The mission of these new religious, fathers and brothers, is “the exercise of spiritual and corporal works of mercy towards the sick, even those suffering from the plague, both in hospitals and prisons and in private homes, wherever necessary. " To better establish his Institute, Camille became a priest. Wherever a plague breaks out, he runs or sends his brothers. He eventually died of exhaustion in Rome. “Remember that the sick are the ward and heart of God and that what is done to these poor is done to God.”
The Camilians' Order
The distinctive sign of the Order is the Camillian red cross, symbol of the love of Christ the Redeemer for all men. Four vows: chastity, poverty, obedience, as well as that of caring for the sick, even contagious ones.
The origins of the Villa from 1883 to 1946
In 1883, Father Virgili, a religious Camillian, arrived from Italy with the mission of finding a place to establish a rest and convalescence home on the French Riviera where the climate seemed to have proven itself in this matter.
He then met a young couple from Lyon living at Pointe de la Galère, just opposite the current Villa Saint Camille, who gave Father Virgili a piece of land for the symbolic franc in return for the construction of a chapel by the Camillian monks where the Order undertakes to provide a religious service. The rest home, named Villa Saint Camille, was inaugurated in 1886 and the chapel was built. Until 1946, the Villa only received a few tired patients as part of its welcoming vocation (for health and rest).
The family vacation center from 1946 to 1977
In 1946, Father Gottelman was appointed director of the Villa and opened it to welcome families. The Villa takes on a new lease of life and adapts to its new function as a Holiday Home. It welcomes vacationers with modest incomes. The elderly, many among the vacationers, will little by little express the wish to reside permanently at the Villa.
From 1972, the Villa acceded to their request and the same year, the “Villa Saint Camille” association was created. Since then, the activities of the family holiday home and the accommodation for the elderly are combined. In addition, people with financial difficulty can come and have lunch at the Villa.
The impulse of an entrepreneur from 1977 to 1980
René Muller, future director of the Villa, is designing a visionary project to respond to questions of social emergency linking on one hand the fate of the elderly and on the other hand the fate of young people in difficulty. He will therefore be the initiator of this innovative concept and will ensure its implementation. René Muller presents his project to the Villa council who approves it and becomes in charge of the project's implementation. The young people started then coming in to be accommodated and participated in outdoor work, while the people already in were encouraged to be part of the "Living Together" dynamic.
The implementation of the concept from 1981 to 1989
Solidarity becomes stronger between the 3 populations hosted and interactions develop between permanent senior residents, vacationers and people in social difficulty. The number of young and old people is increasing and the family holiday home continues to operate.
The public authorities intervened in 1984 and the DDASS proposed in 1988 to formalize the recognition of the Villa as a place of experiment for this new concept of "Living Together".
The project reaches a new crossroad due to safety standards which require to take into account the equipment, the necessary financing needs to reach an optimum size as well as social assistance startegies. A mixed experimental status is recognized in 1989, combining a retirement home, a social reintegration accommodation center (C.H.R.S) as well as a family vacation home.
The real estate project from 1989 to 1992
Faced with the evolution of regulations, the important question of compliance with current standards arises. A real estate project quickly came together to create a modern and welcoming Villa with an alternative between rehabilitating the old or demolishing and rebuilding.
The discussions and preparatory work led in 1989 to the choice of rebuilding the Villa. The 8.2 million euro project is based on a strong idea, and everyone will be granted with a sea view to reinforce the concept of "Living Together".
At the same time, in 1991, the buildings of another former family holiday home adjoining the Villa Saint Camille, Santa Luce, were acquired to develop the social housing.
The extension and professionalization of the social approach from 1992 to 2002
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Personal Assistance Center
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PISTE system to support people addicted to alcohol
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Integration projects
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An "Active Life" Adaptation Center
2004 inauguration of the CHRS by Nelly OLIN
2004 to 2016
Villa Saint Camille has been implementing in Théoule for over 30 years now an original and rare concept in France, namely living together.
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People from all backgrounds not only can live together but create tremendous social added value.
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Older people can share their everyday life moments, offer the richness of their life experience, give caring attention, discuss the values of life and share their know-how. The foundations of reciprocal enlightenment are then created.
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Others will be able to speak in confidence, about suffering, about breakups, ask for advice... talk to a person likely to listen to them with as little preconceptions and judgment as possible... This configuration also allows a regaining of confidence in self and in society.
2016 to present
The Villa Saint Camille association is now backed up by the SOS GROUP.
The General Assembly of the Villa Saint Camille Association in Théoule-sur-Mer (Alpes Maritimes) was supported by the SOS GROUP on November 28, 2016.
The 36 employees of the Association benefit from shared training resources, career opportunities and facilitated mobility within the SOS GROUP (16,000 employees). By joining this associative group, the Association acquires a complete professional expertise center (care, hospitality, entertainment, quality, hygiene, dietetics, communication) to sustain and develop its associative project.
The SOS GROUP Seniors establishments promote social diversity and offer quality services for all. The support is personalized, activities adapted to everyone's abilities are organized, interactions with the external environment are also encouraged.
The Villa continues its work by welcoming and supporting many people. The Villa did not drift away from its initial project, on quite the opposite as the concept even deepened. The results are there, the proof being that, despite the difficulties, it is possible to innovate in the social field.
The Villa Saint Camille
Villa Saint Camille has developed a place bringing together people of the most diverse ages and social origins, where life seems to be able to take off again on its own. It is a small village on the hillside, opening onto Sky and Sea, where natural solidarity is expressed day by day, where life flows naturally because of the mix of ages, social backgrounds, cultures is itself a carrier of natural enrichment. The Villa is a place of life where each person is welcomed with respect for their difference, their richness of being, their difficulties, with what constitutes their being. Everyone is invited to be an actor in this Living Together.
The Association manages 5 reception and support systems:
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a CHRS with 60 accommodation places for the integration of adults and families in difficulty,
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a 20 places family guest house
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12 places allocated to AAVA Active Life Adaptation Workshops
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a Residence for Seniors with 20 rooms and 6 apartments
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a Family Holiday Home with 38 rooms
The Villa Saint Camille is in partnership with the DDCS, the CCAS of the city of Théoule, Cannes and Mandelieu.
