the grotto. From 11 February 1858 to 16 July 1858, Bernadette saw the same vision 18 times. The "lady" eventually introduced herself to Bernadette as the Immaculate Conception, which had been proclaimed as a dogma for the Virgin Mary by Pope Pius IX in 1854. This convinced local priest Dominique Peyramale that Bernadette saw an authentic apparition of the Virgin Mary. During the apparitions, Bernadette was given instructions by the "lady", which were to prove central in the development of the sanctuary and its ceremonies. Bernadette was told to go and drink water from a spring which was to appear inside the grotto and wash herself with it. She was also told to go and tell the priests to build a chapel at the grotto site where people were to come in procession. During the months after the apparitions, public interest in the apparitions grew, and curious visitors began to be replaced by pilgrims from increasingly far away, drawn by compelling stories of apparitions and miracles. Local priest Dominique Peyramale and local bishop Bertrand-Sévère Laurence bought the grotto and the land around it from the town of Lourdes in 1861, three years after the apparitions. Immediately they set about modifying the area to make it more accessible to pilgrims, and started work to build the first of the churches, which is now known as the "Crypt". In 1864, the French sculptor Joseph-Hugues Fabisch was commissioned to create a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes based on Bernadette's descriptions. Although it has become an iconic symbol of Our Lady of Lourdes, it depicts a figure which is not only older and taller than Bernadette's description, but also more in keeping with orthodox and traditional representations of the Virgin Mary. The statue rests in the niche where the Virgin appeared to Bernadette. The original wild rose bush was destroyed shortly after the apparitions by pilgrims seeking relics, but a newer one has been planted nearby. Due to French political upheaval resulting in an enforced separation of Church and State, the property and grounds of the sanctuary were confiscated from the Church and returned to the ownership of the town in 1910. The then bishop, François-Xavier Schoepfer, contested this confiscation and was permitted to rent the area of the sanctuary from the town until the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Later, a visit to Lourdes by Marshal Pétain in 1941 provided