Licenciatura

Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla.
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753-1811), a Mexican revolutionary priest, is considered the foremost patriot of Mexican independence. He led a revolt against Spanish rulethat inaugurated a series of military and political episodes culminating in the achievement of Mexican independence in 1821.
Miguel Hidalgo was born a Creole on May 8, 1753. His father was theadministrator of a hacienda in the Bajío (in the present state of Guanajuato). Miguel was trained briefly in a Jesuit school before the order was expelled from the empire in 1767. Later that year hematriculated in the diocesan College of San Nicolás in Valladolid (now Morelia). Hidalgo was intellectually oriented and chose to remain part of the academic community long after he had earned degrees intheology and had been ordained. By 1776 he was a member of the San Nicolás faculty and remained in Valladolid until 1792 as an academician, an exponent of the Enlightenment, and a Don Juan. In 1790 hebecame rector of the college, but his advanced ideas and mismanagement of funds soon led to his ouster.
From 1792 until 1810 Hidalgo served as parish priest in a succession of curacies. While in SanFelipe (1793-1803), he made his house a salon and promoted French theatrical works (which he translated), orchestral music, dances, and literary discussions. The Inquisition investigated his activities(1800-1801) but did not press charges. On his arrival in Dolores near Guanajuato in 1803, Hidalgo turned to more socioeconomic interests. These he expressed through his development of local craftindustries (ceramics, tanning, sericulture) for the benefit of the Indian and caste population.
Start of a Rebellion
With the Napoleonic invasion of Spain in 1808, Mexico's own crisis began. Hidalgo'ssearch for intellectual companionship had brought him into contact with prominent Creoles throughout the Bajío, Michoacán, and adjacent areas. When the Creoles in Querétaro organized a plot to expel the...