Dr. Fred Hass

We just love this fragrance by Dr. Fred Hass and the story that goes with it!

The Pope's Cologne is a unique gift idea!

"My brother and I were voracious readers," Hass says. "He and I would read poetry to each other. We'd read Sinclair Lewis, Hemingway, Shakespeare. We really liked Shakespeare, but that was something we didn't want anyone else to know."

These days, things are different. Hass' brother Bob - encouraged by Fred to pursue his love of literature - is the former U.S. poet laureate. And Hass, the plain-spoken head of a Terra Linda family practice, is producing a cologne formula first created by Pope Pius IX.

Hass' latest adventure began when his sister, who lives in Maryland, presented him with the gift of an antique cookbook.

"You know how those old cookbooks your grandmother used to have had recipes in the back for making soap, things like that?" Hass says. "Well, this one had a section on fragrances, and it included a recipe for the Pope's cologne."

Pius IX was the last pontiff to rule over Italy's papal states, as well as the Roman Catholic Church. During Pius' lifetime, Italian patriots defeated the papal army, and the Pope lost his land, becoming strictly a spiritual leader.

According to Hass, one of the Pope's generals passed the recipe for Pius' private cologne to his family. There it remained for generations until a family member included it in Hass' cookbook.

Dr. Hass isn't sure what made him want to re-create the formula. Despite his medical training, he'd never thought of himself as a chemist. And he'd certainly never viewed himself as an artist.

"I don't pencil. I don't paint. I have no ability whatsoever," Hass says.

He had creativity to spare, however. Born in San Francisco, Hass' family moved to San Rafael in 1945, when he was 7 years old.

"I lived on D Street, surrounded by Italians, as part of the only German-Irish family around," Hass says. "I became an Italophile without even knowing it."

Dr. Hass began his first job a year later, selling copies of what was then called the San Rafael Independent Journal. He showed a knack for business from his earliest years.

"When I was in the seventh grade, I started a firecracker business," Hass says. "I knew my way around the city, and I'd hitchhike there, go to this big store in Chinatown, and buy bricks of fireworks for three cents a pack. I'd bring them home and sell them for 15 cents a pack."

Hass kept up his trade in fireworks for a year, using the money he earned to buy his mother a secondhand ring.

"I don't know how I kept it a secret from my parents," Hass says. "I was so proud of the money I made. I was on the traffic patrol at St. Raphael's, and one day the head of the patrol, Sgt. Joe Brusatori, said 'Freddy, we need to talk about your firecracker business.' And I said, 'What firecracker business?' And he looked at me and said, 'It's over. Do you understand?' And that was the end of that."

Hass tried other schemes, including selling Christmas wreaths door-to-door.

"I wore my Boy Scout shirt," he says. "I figured even people who didn't want Christmas wreaths would buy them from a Boy Scout."

Dr. Hass might have continued like that, bouncing from one money-making idea to another, had two factors not intervened. The first was the Korean War. Worried that he'd be drafted, Hass took the advice of a family friend, and enlisted in a reserve battalion commanded by former county medical director Dr. Rafael Dufficy.

The second was love. Having met and married Miriam Percy, Hass wanted to settle down. He followed in the footsteps of Dufficy, his mentor, and enrolled in medical school.

"I had always been a marginal student in high school," Hass admitted. "But I came out of the Army with a lot of discipline. I think every kid should have to go into the Army or something like it."

Hass and his wife settled in San Rafael, Hass taking an office in - and eventually taking over - Dr. Dufficy's practice. He worked diligently, raised his children and spent his free time fishing, gardening and cooking. It was his love of the kitchen that eventually led him to Pope Pius IX' formula.

"I got really absorbed in the process," he says. "There's something alchemical about it. It's a magical process, mystical. Fascinating."

Author Mandy Aftel understands the appeal.

"The process of making fragrances is so exciting, so intoxicating, that people become more and more interested in it," says Aftel, the Berkeley-based author of "Essence and Alchemy" and other books on the art and science of perfume making. "It's something I see a lot."

The fragrance Hass dubbed The Pope's Cologne has that light, slightly sweet, slightly medicinal smell one might associate with the interior of a favorite grandmother's purse. Hass describes it as a "crisp freshness with subtle notes of citrus and violet." "The composition of perfume is just like the composition of music. It even uses the same terminology," Hass says.

Creating a scent takes more than just mixing a few drops of oil with an alcohol base, Hass says. Different types of oils linger longer, he says, and must be "married" together with other scents to create an aroma that changes over time, as layers of fragrance evaporate from the wearer.

"The bottom level, fragrances with the lowest volatility, the ones that evaporate most slowly, are still around days or even years later," Hass says. "They've opened up pharaohs' tombs in Egypt and found remains of fragrances still there. The top level might disappear after three hours. That's what makes perfume a living thing."

Hass believes all-natural fragrances like The Pope's Cologne will resonate with consumers tired of the synthetic scents used in modern perfumes.

"You can't replicate the olfactory experience of essential oils," Hass says. "Every real scent has its own identity. Modern perfumes all smell the same because their ingredients mostly come from the same fragrance and flavor company in New York."

So far, his hunch seems to have paid off. Since news reports described his discovery, Dr. Hass has fielded inquiries about the Pope's cologne from as far away as Texas and Arizona. The cologne retails for $24.95 at his Web site, The Pope's Cologne....

Hass is now at work creating his own line of unique fragrances, which he plans to market under the Excelsis label. And he's helping to train the next generation of perfumers to develop scents of their own.

"There's no unpretentious way to write about smell," he added.

What's important, he says, is that the fragrance's smell is distinctive - and that most people who try it seem to enjoy it.

"I became interested in making it," says Hass, who manufactures the cologne in his kitchen. "I figured out what I needed to do, getting the bottles, designing the labels."

In deciding to make more of the cologne, Hass found himself drawn into the world of perfumery. He read voraciously on the subject, and purchased dozens of essential oils - the rare plant and animal scents used for traditional colognes and perfumes.

"I have five granddaughters, and I'm crazy about them," Hass says. "I've been teaching them to make perfume. Their first scent is called 'Sorella,' which is 'sister' in Italian. They've made it for their friends and teachers."

He's marketed The Pope's Cologne to religious gift shops and has read widely on the life of Pius IX. He believes the experience of becoming a fragrance maker is part of the spiritual journey of his life.

"I believe that if we use the gifts that God gave us every day, we fill that empty void within ourselves and become who we really are," Hass says. - Courtesy of Rob Rogers - San Rafael Stories - Media Mentions

Pope Pius IX

Did you know that Pope Pius IX reigned as Pope longer than any other Pope in history?

Did you know that Pope Pius IX had corresponded with Jefferson Davis and recognized the Confederate States of America?

Did you know that Pope Pius IX consecrated the Church to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, disciplined the participation of Catholics in political life with the Non expedit and restored the Catholic hierarchy of Scotland?

Suffering from poor health, he gave his last address to the parish priests of Rome on 2 February 1878. On 7 February the longest pontificate in history ended with his holy death.

Did you know that the Catholic Church has named him Blessed Pope Pius IX?

Did you know that Dr. Fred Hass has recreated the cologne dedicated to this holy Pope?

The Pope's Cologne

....a fresh new fragrance from the past from Dr. Fred Hass!

A free Pope Pius IX Holy Card will be included with each bottle of The Pope’s Cologne ordered while supplies last.

Dr. Fred Hass has given us permission to offer you a clip from the CBS Sunday Morning Show with Bill Geist. See the video below! We think that you will like Dr. Hass, his family, and his Pope's Cologne at Excelsis!

Dr. Fred Hass
CBS Sunday Morning
Bill Geist

Video here.

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Link from Dr Fred Hass to Catholic Company.

Link from Dr Fred Hass to Roman Catholic Catechism home.

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