International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest

Extract

Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, born on May 8, 1753 on a hacienda in Guanajuato where his father served as overseer, was a leading Mexican nationalist and opponent of Spanish colonialism. When he was 12 he was sent to Valladolid to study with the Jesuits at the Colegio de San Francisco Javier. There the Jesuits had recently replaced traditional scholasticism with the new rationalism and scientific methods then in fashion in Europe. This innovative curriculum greatly influenced Hidalgo throughout his life. When the Jesuits were expelled from Mexico in 1767, San Francisco Javier was closed and Miguel was forced to complete his basic education at the nearby, but more traditional, diocesan Colegio de San Nicolás Obispo. It was here that he became proficient in several indigenous languages. He matriculated at the University of Mexico, earning a bachelor's degree in theology in 1773. He was ordained a priest in 1778. Two years earlier he had begun teaching at San Nicolás Obispo, where he was eventually named rector, a position that enabled him to revise the curriculum in accordance with the Jesuit-inspired reforms he had long championed. Meanwhile, he continued his studies at the university, working towards a doctorate. Although he finished his dissertation and it was awarded a prize for the best thesis in theology, he did not receive his doctorate, since he never defended his dissertation ... log in or subscribe to read full text