He is known mostly as owner, manager and the moving spirit behind numerous Traditionalist periodicals, mostly El Legitimista Español (1898–1912) and España (1915–1929), both published in Buenos Aires.

His paternal grandparents were Manuel Oller from Barcelona and Rosa Pallarol from San Vicente dels Horts, yet their social position remains unclear;[4] according to their grandson, they formed a “modest family”.

[5] Their son and the father of Francisco, Manuel Oller Pallarol (1810–1888),[6] reportedly followed somewhat chaotic secondary education curriculum[7] and ascended to middle strata, though it is not certain what he was doing for a living.

Apart from a theatrical drama Combates del corazón (1884) he wrote La España Carlista (1885),[28] a set of essays revolving around the Third Carlist War and largely formatted as polemics with Antonio Pirala.

[31] In 1887 he assumed management of Lo Crit de la Patria and steered it as a vehement Carlist propaganda vehicle,[32] publishing venomous diatribes against the Madrid governments.

Quintana assumed ambiguous stand, and Oller suspended his collaboration having declared that “l’estat de la lluyta actual dins lo partit carlista” makes him re-consider.

Eventually, when Lo Crit de la Patria sided with the rebels, Oller opted for total loyalty to his king and left the periodical.

[34] Though no longer behind the steering wheel of Lo Crit, in 1888 Oller was subject to legal investigation related to articles, published earlier during his tenure.

Apart from open exaltation of Carlos de Borbón as the king, he was also charged with barely veiled reference to the prime minister Sagasta as “canalla”.

[35] The matter was examined in various courts, and following numerous appeals he got two sentences for the total of 7 months of incarceration and the fine of 4.000 pesetas;[36] he spend the period between June 1888 and January 1889 behind bars.

[37] Once set free he was immediately invited by the claimant to Venice, where he spent some time later that year;[38] he declared himself “un enamorado de la figura política del Rey Carlos VII”.

He allegedly made some business decisions when trusting in promises of support and financial engagement on part of various individuals, the assistance which has never materialized;[51] some claimed that he was “abandonado por los suyos, sin ayuda ni auxilio”.

In October 1892 Oller, his wife and his daughter boarded an Italian liner Perseo and departed for Argentina; 3 weeks later they arrived in Buenos Aires.

[66] However, he found some time to pursue interest in letters; in 1896 his historiographic booklet España en el mundo earned him primer premio de prosa in Juegos Florales del Centro Unión Obrera Española,[67] and in 1897 he published Certamen Franciscano Literario y Artístico, follow-up of cultural event organized by the local Franciscans.

[69] Oller set up Comisión Central de Propaganda Carlista en la América del Sud;[70] its branches appeared in Uruguay,[71] Bolivia,[72] Paraguay, Peru and Ecuador.

[79] Oller envisioned a grand scheme, with offices in every South American capital; eventually El Legitimista remained a local Buenos Aires paper, with 300 subscribers and sales of some 2.500 copies.

[82] At some point in the early 1900s Oller either founded or co-founded Centro de Publicidad Universal Lux, a Buenos-Aires-based publishing house which took over issuing of El Legitimista.

It briefly published also La Hispano-Argentina, an ambitious cultural review with tuned town Carlist tone and formatted rather as a generic Catholic periodical.

The spacious Belgrano office was also accommodating numerous social events co-organized by Oller, like conferences, banquets, lectures, celebrations of Carlist feasts etc., at times gathering as much as 200 participants.

Financial details are highly unclear; except possible link to Banco de Galicia y Buenos Aires, there were no large companies involved and capital was to be raised by sales of shares.

Oller's bookstore La Enciclopedia re-arranged its display windows as sort of Carlist exhibition, with books, portraits, decorations and other memorabilia, some from his private collection.

Afterwards El Legitimista printed an editorial note; it claimed that because of “recent events” and with the intention to prevent damages “to legitimist cause in America”, the board decided to suspend publication of the weekly.

According to a historian the periodical did not assume an openly Carlist format, posing rather as a paper of Spaniards in South America, yet to some readers it was sort of continuation of El Legitimista, but with more pages and more adverts.

For some time, during the First World War, it adopted a sub-title of “Revista hispano-germanófila”,[101] a clear mark of Oller's support for the German Empire and his anti-British stand.

Very briefly in 1917 he managed to resurrect El Legitimista, this time as “periódico Jaimista”; only 5 issues appeared and the title was discontinued with a declaration that “political circumstances which justified its re-appearance have ceased”.

[108] At the time he was already suffering from poor health and unspecified family problems, perhaps related to death of his son-in-law and his daughter remaining on her own;[109] he quoted above reasons when closing España in 1929.

[117] In 1939 he attended the Buenos Aires celebrations of the Carlist Mártires de la Tradición ceremony, with an empty seat reserved for representative of the Spanish government.