page_title: Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla
section_title: Education, ordination, and early career
hierarchical_section_title: Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla / Education, ordination, and early career
caption_attribution_description: Español: Portrait of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753-1811)
context_page_description: Don Miguel Gregorio Antonio Francisco Ignacio Hidalgo-Costilla y Gallaga Mandarte Villaseñor, more commonly known as Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla or Miguel Hidalgo, was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest, a leader of the Mexican War of Independence, and recognized as the Father of the Nation.
  He was a professor at the Colegio de San Nicolás Obispo in Valladolid and was ousted in 1792. He served in a church in Colima and then in Dolores. After his arrival, he was shocked by the rich soil he had found. He tried to help the poor by showing them how to grow olives and grapes, but in New Spain growing these crops was discouraged or prohibited by the authorities so as to avoid competition with imports from Spain. In 1810 he gave the famous speech, "Cry of Dolores", calling upon the people to protect the interest of their King Fernando VII by revolting against the European-born Spaniards who had overthrown the Spanish Viceroy.
  He marched across Mexico and gathered an army of nearly 90,000 poor farmers and Mexican civilians who attacked and killed both Spanish Peninsulares and Criollo elites, even though Hidalgo's troops lacked training and were poorly armed.
context_section_description: At the age of fifteen Hidalgo was sent to Valladolid (now Morelia), Michoacán, to study at the Colegio de San Francisco Javier with the Jesuits, along with his brothers. When the Jesuits were expelled from Mexico in 1767, he entered the Colegio de San Nicolás, where he studied for the priesthood.
  He completed his preparatory education in 1770. After this, he went to the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico in Mexico City for further study, earning his degree in philosophy and theology in 1773. His education for the priesthood was traditional, with subjects in Latin, rhetoric and logic. Like many priests in Mexico, he learned some Indian languages, such as Nahuatl, Otomi, and Purépecha. He also studied Italian and French, which were not commonly studied in Mexico at this time. He earned the nickname "El Zorro" ("The Fox") for his reputation for cleverness at school. Hidalgo's study of French allowed him to read and study works of the Enlightenment current in Europe but, at the same time, forbidden by the Catholic church in Mexico.
  Hidalgo was ordained as a priest in 1778 when he was 25 years old. From 1779 to 1792, he dedicated himself to teaching at the Colegio de San Nicolás Obispo in Valladolid (now Morelia); it was "one of the most important educational centers of the viceroyalty." He was a professor of Latin grammar and arts, as well as a theology professor. Beginning in 1787, he was named treasurer, vice-rector and secretary, becoming dean of the school in 1790 when he was 39. As rector, Hidalgo continued studying the liberal ideas that were coming from France and other parts of Europe. Authorities ousted him in 1792 for revising traditional teaching methods there, but also for "irregular handling of some funds." The Church sent him to work at the parishes of Colima and San Felipe Torres Mochas until he became the parish priest in Dolores, Guanajuato, succeeding his brother José Joaquín a few weeks his death on 19 September 1802.
  Although Hidalgo had a traditional education for the priesthood, as an educator at the Colegio de San Nicolás he had innovated in teaching methods and curriculum. In his personal life, he did not advocate or live the way expected of 18th-century Mexican priests. Instead, his studies of Enlightenment-era ideas caused him to challenge traditional political and religious views. He questioned the absolute authority of the Spanish king and challenged numerous ideas presented by the Church, including the power of the popes, the virgin birth, and clerical celibacy. As a secular cleric, he was not bound by a vow of poverty, so he, like many other secular priests, pursued business activities, including owning three haciendas; but contrary to his vow of chastity, he formed liaisons with women. One was with Manuela Ramos Pichardo, with whom he had two children, as well as a child with Bibiana Lucero. He later lived with a woman named María Manuela Herrera, fathering two daughters out of wedlock with her, and later fathered three other children with a woman named Josefa Quintana.
  These actions resulted in his appearance before the Court of the Inquisition, although the court did not find him guilty. Hidalgo was egalitarian. As parish priest in both San Felipe and Dolores, he opened his house to Indians and mestizos as well as creoles.
caption: Portrait of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753-1811), by José Inés Tovilla, 1912
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