Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753-1811)

Today also marks the death of Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, and the following is adapted from Wikipedia:

Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla Miguel Hidalgo was a priest and the leader of the Mexican War of Independence. He was born in Guanajuato, and began studying for the priesthood at age twelve. He was ordained in 1778. Hidalgo read and studied the works of the Enlightenment authors from Europe even though these were forbidden. The Church sent him to work various parishes until he finally became parish priest in Dolores, Guanajuato. Here he continued to speak out against the existing social and economic order under the Spanish. He became involved with a group in Querétaro against the government, but they were reported to authorities before they could act. Instead of going into hiding, Hidalgo called his parishioners to join the struggle for independence in a speech known as the Grito de Dolores. People responded enthusiastically, and Hidalgo became leader of an army. He established an alternative government with himself at the head. In 1810,his bishop excommunicated him and his followers. After his army was defeated at Guadalajara, Hidalgo was betrayed and captured in March 1811 and taken to Chihuahua, where he was executed by firing squad. Today in Mexico, Hidalgo is hailed as the ‘‘Father of the Nation’’