Padre Miguel Hidalgo

Late one September evening the name of Miguel Hidalgo became forever engraved in Mexico's history. Since that night, his life as well as Mexico changed radically.

Miguel Hidalgo was born in the Corralejo Hacienda in PÐ"©njamo, Guanajauto on May 8, 1753. His father, Don CristÐ"Ñ-bal, was of middle-class of creole background and served as the hacienda's administrator. He was sent to Valladolid to study at the San NicolÐ"ÐŽs Obispo College, where he later taught theology, philosophy and ethics. In 1792, he was ordained and after working in different parishes, came to practice his ministry at the Parish of Dolores.

Before that historic moment when his voice cried out to demand Mexico's independence from the Spanish crown Padre Hidalgo, Father Hidalgo, was exactly that; an old priest from a parish in the small town of Dolores. It was there that he organized meetings with the townspeople and taught the farmers to work the land.

He was an enthusiastic and hard-working man, always worrying about the well-being of his community. To help the indigenous, he built an estate where he established a pottery shop, a tanning shop, a blacksmith stable, a carpentry store, and a looming shop.

Up until that famous night, Hidalgo lived in Mexico. Mexico was a Spanish colony, one of the most prosperous ones though full of social injustice.

Hidalgo's liberal ideas led him to join forces with a group of people who opposed the Spanish dominance. Together with this group of liberals, they reached an agreement to begin a revolution in October of 1810. However, they were discovered and forced to move up the date to September 16, 1810.

Hidalgo took the banner with the image of the Virgin Guadalupe and, ringing the church bell, he gathered many faithful Catholics from his parish to listen attentively to Hidalgo's speech. He talked to them about Spanish oppression and about the impending need to free themselves from Spain.

The angry people shouted: "Long live independence! Long live America! Away with bad government!" With that, the armed battle began which would give birth to a new nation, free and independent.

In 1811, Father Hidalgo fell in an ambush and, after being relieved of his duties as a priest, he was sentenced and shot to death. The reigns of the rebellion fell to military leader,