DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — Hidalgo County's own monument to the man the county bears his name. Now, some men are born into a world that's already made up its mind about who belongs and who doesn't. Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla was born in 1753, near Guanajuato, Mexico, back when Spain still held the whole country in its fist.
The world he came into had rules, and those rules were not friendly to everybody living under them. He took holy orders, was ordained a priest in 1779, and went to work. He served churches in Colima, then San Felipe, then Dolores — and somewhere along the way this priest started seein' something the colonial system didn't want him to see: that it was never going to give justice to all citizens on its own.
It just wasn't built for that. Hidalgo came to believe that, firmly, and he didn't keep it quiet. He did something else that was quietly radical, too.
He taught farming methods and industrial techniques to the Indians and others in his parish. Economic independence from the mother country — that was the goal, and he was workin' toward it one lesson at a time, right there in his own congregation. But by 1810, teaching wasn't going to be enough.
Padre Hidalgo and military leader Ignacio de Allende had begun conspiring to overthrow the Royalist government outright. Then came the warning: officials suspected the plot. The plan was in danger of unraveling before it ever got started.
So Hidalgo moved. He gathered his sympathizers in Dolores. And on the morning of September 16, 1810, following early mass, he stepped out and delivered what history would call the Grito de Dolores — the cry from Dolores — a call to arms.
That moment, right there, is what the marker says began the revolt that led to Mexican independence from Spain. Not in 1810, mind you. The road was long.
Independence came in 1821, eleven hard years after that cry. Padre Hidalgo didn't live to see it. During a battle on the Bridge of Calderon, he was captured.
He was unfrocked. And then he was shot. The marker calls him the Father of Mexican Independence.
Hidalgo County, right here in Texas, carries his name. And across Mexico and the Southwest, he is still honored — a priest who decided one September morning that a call to justice was worth everything it would cost him. That's a story a county ought to be proud to carry.
What the marker says
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753-1811), for whom the county of Hidalgo is named, was born near Guanajuato, Mexico, while the country was still under Spanish rule. After being ordained a priest in 1779, he served churches in Colima, San Felipe, and Dolores, where he emerged as a champion of human rights who feared the colonial system would never allow independence and justice for all citizens. A firm believer in economic independence from the mother country, Hidalgo worked toward that goal by teaching farming methods and industrial techniques to Indians and others in his parish. In 1810 Padre Hidalgo, along with military leader Ignacio de Allende, conspired to overthrow the Royalist government. Warned that officials suspected their plot, Hidlago gathered sympathizers in Dolores. Following early mass on the morning of September 16, 1810, Hidalgo made his famous "Grito De Dolores," a call to arms which in effect began the revolt that led to Mexican independence from Spain in 1821. During a battle on the Bridge of Calderon, Padre Hidalgo was captured and later was unfrocked and shot. Considered "The Father of Mexican Independence," Padre Hidalgo continues to be honored for his leadership throughout Mexico and the Southwest. (1983)