News Gabrielle POURCHET

A PROMINENT FIGURE AND PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SAUGEAIS FROM 1972 TO 2005

La République du Saugeais doit beaucoup à celle qui fut sa première présidente, de 1972 à 2005.
Figure emblématique au destin singulier, Gabrielle Pourchet continue d’inspirer les Saugettes et Saugets, qui lui savent gré d’avoir incarné leur territoire avec grâce et détermination.

Born in1906 on a farm in Chapelle-d’Huin, Gabrielle married Georges Pourchet and, together with him, took over the Hôtel de l’Abbaye in Montbenoît in1931. She steadfastly supported the man credited with founding the Republic of Saugeais until his death in 1968. As the years passed, the small region lacked recognition and its abbey fell into rapid disrepair…

Gabrielle Pourchet’s appointment as President of the Republic of Saugeais is inextricably linked to her efforts, carried out alongside Father Martial Jeantet, to restore Montbenoît Abbey.

It was during a fundraising dinner to finance the monument’s renovation that the applause meter unquestionably decided to elect Gabrielle Pourchet to the highest office in the Republic: “It happened without a high-profile campaign, without a platform, without any expenses, and without my knowledge,” she would write, not without a touch of humor, in her memoirs.

“BEING PRESIDENT ALSO MEANS KEEPING A SMILE”

“AND SHARE IT WITH OTHERS.”

Gabrielle Pourchet (1906–2005)

Portrait of Pourchet, President of Saugeais

From that point on, she carried out her duties with dedication and humility, personally responding to her voluminous correspondence and attending various meetings with a willingness to help and a cheerful disposition. Under her presidency, the Republic established a government, a Prime Minister, a Secretary General, ambassadors, and customs officials, not to mention the institution of “Honorary Citizens’ Day.” Gabrielle made it her duty to tirelessly advocate, with all her national and international counterparts, for the restoration of Montbenoît Abbey.

Awarded the National Order of Merit by the prefect of Besançon and received at the Élysée Palace by Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, Gabrielle Pourchet turned her beloved Republic of Saugeais into a recognized micronation, bequeathing to it a philosophy rooted in friendship, solidarity, and community.