Man re-creates fragrance possibly worn by Pope Pius IX

Doctor's inspiration is heaven scent San Rafael man re-creates fragrance possibly worn by Pope Pius IX
Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, December 23, 2006
The Vatican meets Chanel No. 5.
In a San Rafael kitchen, a 69-year-old doctor says he has re-created the custom cologne worn in the 19th century by Pope Pius IX, the longest-reigning pope aside from possibly St. Peter.
So what did this famous pontiff -- the one who established the Immaculate Conception and papal infallibility as church dogma -- smell like?
"Surprisingly fresh, with notes of citrus and violet," said Dr. Fred Hass, a general practitioner who works in Terra Linda. "Very nice, actually."
Hass found the purported recipe about seven years ago in a limited-edition 1963 cookbook published in the United States. The cookbook says the recipe is believed to have been passed down by the family of a French general who was in Pius' papal guard.
One night, after a few glasses of wine with friends, he decided to make the concoction in his kitchen.
The result caught everyone by surprise.
"It was very pleasant," said Hass' cohort, Hank Sandbach of Sonoma, a retired vice president of Nabisco. "To think, if you close your eyes you're in the presence of the pope. And if you splash a little on you get something even headier."
Hass was so impressed by the light, fresh fragrance that he started making it in larger quantities to give to family and friends. He read everything he could about the science of perfume and papal history. He ordered essential oils in bulk and wholesale cologne bottles, and affixed to each a brief history and likeness of Pope Pius IX.
And now he's ready for retail. He has 2,000 bottles in his garage and has streamlined the manufacturing process so he can fill a bottle every 10 seconds.
He said he's sold a few of the 2-ounce bottles online for $24.99 each and has had encouraging feedback from Nordstrom, Barneys New York, the Guerlain cosmetics and perfume company, and Catholic gift shops.
Hass requested that the exact recipe of the cologne and cookbook's title not be disclosed because he doesn't want competition, but said the main ingredients are orange blossom, lemon verbena, lavender, violet, clove and sweet orange.
"I'm a little old to start a second career, but I've become kind of absorbed," said Hass, brother of former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass. "I've got so much more to learn."
Pius IX was one of the Catholic Church's more influential pontiffs. He served from 1846 to 1878, a time of revolution throughout Europe and dramatic changes in the church. When he began his reign, he was considered a liberal, kind-hearted leader of the papal states. Among his first acts was to grant amnesty to political prisoners, which backfired when radical groups started taking over the political stage in Rome. Riots and war ensued, and Pius was forced to flee in disguise to the town of Gaeta in central Italy.
"When he returned, he was a changed man," said Jim Bretzke, professor and chairman of the department of theology and religious studies at the University of San Francisco. "He was more conservative, more authoritarian."
Pius issued edicts proclaiming as dogmas the Immaculate Conception and papal infallibility, which means that "what he says must be held as true by all faithful," Bretzke said.
"I don't think he was well liked," Bretzke said. "He was authoritarian, censorial. It was a struggle to have him beatified. Many thought he wasn't sainthood material, including his biographer."
Pius served for 32 years and died at age 85. After that, "the cardinals wanted to elect older men as pope," Bretzke said.
With many Catholic traditions, certain elements are shrouded in mystery. Among those mysteries, apparently, is cologne. Bretzke said it's almost certain Pius wore special cologne because few people, even popes, bathed regularly in those days. But he knew nothing about specific fragrances worn by individual popes.
Hass said he spent more than a year scouring the Internet for information but came up empty-handed.
The recipe came from the family of Gen. Charles Charette, whom the Catholic Encyclopedia describes as "a superb type of the valiant knight, devoted heart and soul to the defense of (Pius') temporal sovereignty, and consecrated himself to that cause in the same spirit which actuated the Crusades of the Middle Ages."
Hass makes the cologne in his kitchen with a vat of ethanol, a graduated cylinder he bought at a garage sale, and several bottles of essential oils. At first, he bottled it with feeding tubes he got at a nursing home, but then he upgraded to a valve system he bought at a tire store.
His wife, Miriam, helps with measurements and bottling. After the cologne is mixed, Hass lets it sit for three weeks so the scents can blend. Then he stores it in his garage.
In all, Hass devotes about 20 hours a week to the endeavor, which is in addition to the 35 hours a week he practices medicine.
"I imagine being in the papal apartments 150 years ago," he said. "It's magical. There's a kind of mystical chemistry to it -- a lot of people liken it to alchemy. That's what it's about for me, the history and the magic."
Hass, who is Catholic, said he's interested in papal history, but his primary fascination is with making perfume, which he compared to composing music. Like music, fine perfume has base notes, middle notes, top notes and chords. And like good wine, he said, perfume evolves. Wearers smell the top notes first, then two to four hours later smell the middle notes, and 12 hours later the base notes.
"Then it mixes with the oil on your skin, so it's different on each person," he said. "The perfume is almost alive."
Perfume also has emotional properties. The sense of smell, the most primitive sense, connects directly with the frontal lobe of the brain and is a powerful and subliminal emotional trigger. A whiff of baking bread can immediately take us back to Grandma's kitchen, while other scents have erotic qualities.
Pius' scent is neither erotic nor homey, Hass said. The citrus and lavender combine to give a clean, bright impression.
"It's elating, it's cheerful," he said. "It makes you feel better."
E-mail Carolyn Jones at carolynjones@sfchronicle.com.
San Francisco Chronicle