Politically he evolved from centre-left to extreme right: initially Requejo supported the Romanonista dynastic Liberalism, then he turned towards accidentalist Acción Católica, and finally he joined Carlism.

[5] The father of Jesús, Víctor Requejo Rodríguez, belonged to the middle class[6] and served as a court clerk[7] in the town of Puebla de Sanabria.

[29] The couple settled in Puebla; it is not clear how initially they made a living, yet at least since 1908 Jesús has been noted in the press as the local Sanabrian abogado,[30] acting as attorney at the turn of the 1900s[31] and 1910s.

[32] Jesús and Antonia had one child,[33] Antonio Requejo San Román (1907-1936); he graduated in law in Madrid and was preparing to pass the notary exams[34] when soon after outbreak of the civil war he was detained and executed with his father.

None of Jesús’ siblings and further relatives became a public figure; his brother Antonio was an entrepreneur, José served as fiscal and Herminio grew to high post official in mid-Francoism.

[37] His first contributions identified come from 1903 and are related to electoral campaigns of Fabriciano Cid, local cacique of liberal monarchist left;[38] following the death of Sagasta, the Requejo father and son declared themselves supporters of conde de Romanones.

On the one hand, reportedly due to interest in social justice raised by the Jesuits,[41] he lamented underprivileged position of the workers, on the 1st of May encouraged them that “querer es poder” and claimed that “their day will come”.

[56] In the late 1910s and early 1920s Requejo remained related to the liberalismo dinástico faction, active in the network of Romanonistas like Antonio Rodríguez Cid,[57] Santiago Alba Bonifaz,[58] Fernando López Monis[59] or Ismael Calvo Madroño.

[69] As a property registrar in 1924 Requejo was reassigned to the town of Madridejos (Toledo province);[70] at the time he was already an expert in real estate law and occasionally published in scientific periodicals.

[79] He donated royalties from Tierra Santa y Roma (1927), a book which provided account of his voyages, to Obra Pontificia de San Pedro Apóstol.

[81] His zeal assumed a militant tone when he focused apostolic and missionary activities on the nearby town of Camuñas, a Manchegan centre of Protestantism known as “Spanish Geneva”;[82] Requejo worked with the local parish to contain and possibly reduce its Protestant influence.

[85] In the late 1920s Requejo gained in Madridejos the prestige he used to enjoy in Puebla de Sanabria, appreciated as a person who believed that education brings progress and the one who did his best to help the community he lived in.

After the fall of Primo he wholeheartedly engaged in Acción Católica;[88] not only he attended its first National Congress of 1930[89] but remained on close terms with Herrera Oría[90] and with cardenal Segura.

[102] In 1932[103] Requejo published El Cardenal Segura, the first biography of the primate; prologued by Ramiro de Maeztu,[104] the 215-page work assumed a decisively hagiographic tone.

Los Jesuitas (1932), prologued by Herrera Oria; both pamphlets denounced militantly secular policy as driven by anti-Church conspiracy and declared expulsion of religious orders, especially Jesuits, part of this plot.

Requejo championed Catholic rights to publicly profess their faith and protested Popular Front designs against religious orders and conventual education; he was last recorded speaking on July 8.

[123] According to some accounts Requejo could have easily gone into hiding or escaped abroad, but as he considered himself a just man who harmed no-one and worked for common good he saw no reason to flee and declined a related offer.

[131] Following the Nationalist triumph in the Civil War Requejo and his son were referred to in the Francoist press as martyrs for God and the Fatherland,[132] but their names soon went into oblivion.

The widow re-buried her husband and son in the Madridejos church;[133] she donated substantial sums to set up a seminary in the town, but the plan has ultimately ended in failure.

The so-called Causa Toletana cause, which covers 464 names, was brought formally before the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which in 2003 declared all these listed – including the Requejos – Servants of God.

[141] Another cross stands in the centre of the town; it used to commemorate 180 victims of Republican terror in Los Yébenes, but in 2017 the plaque was changed and now it records “all fallen during the Civil War”.