[4] Following the 1868 revolution Corbató Cardá fervently opposed the new order; he declared himself supporter of the legitimist claimant Carlos VII and refused to take oath to the constitution of 1869.

[5] As a result, he was not only fired from his petty teaching job, but reportedly also jailed, detained in Valencia and threatened with execution; during his incarceration the family suffered great economic hardships.

[2] Upon Corbató Cardá's release in 1871 he was reinstated to the official job but posted some 60 km away to Zorita, in the Castellón Maestrazgo already bordering Aragón; the entire family settled in the town as well.

[23] All assumed extremely combative Carlist stand,[24] directed not only against Liberal and Conservative groupings, but also against other Levantine Catholic periodicals;[25] Corbató claimed exclusive license for orthodox Catholicism.

[30] Moreover, in the mid-1890s Corbató turned into a genuine icon of young Valencian Carlists;[31] at home he ran an informal circulo, built his own following[32] and started to appear as an alternative leader, differing from old-style tycoons like Llorens, Polo and Manuel Simó Marín.

[35] Resembling an earlier pamphlet of Félix Sardà y Salvany, it was a most intransigent interpretation of papal teachings and contained onslaught on liberal and conservative politics; the booklet presented Carlism as the sole depositary of Catholicism[36] and lambasted various breeds of traitors.

He was briefly hosted by the claimant in Venice,[42] yet he settled permanently in Paris; he tried to make a living[43] by teaching Latin, translations,[44] editing antologies[45] and providing religious service.

In 1896 he published Dios, patria y rey o el catecismo del carlista;[47] the booklet presented Carlos VII as a model Christian king, determined to fight liberal tyranny, and was sold via Carlist channels in 1896–1898.

[49] Intransigent as always, he denounced the Paris 1900 Universal Exposition as triumph of socialism, Judaism and freemasonry;[50] even the Spanish hierarchy was not spared his venom as timid and not sufficiently committed.

[51] In 1899 Corbató published Los Consejos del Cardenal Sancha;[52] the booklet was aimed against the primate and affirmed that only Carlism represented the genuine Catholic stand.

Already in Paris Corbató engaged in fervent Carlist insurrectionist propaganda;[59] as in October 1900 the conspiracy boiled down to few isolated attempts he was profoundly disappointed by ambiguous stand of Carlos VII, and his mistrust towards the Levantine party leaders was extended also to the claimant and the national executive.

Back in Spain Corbató – by scholars considered possessed by "obsesiva dedicación al campo de la prensa"[60] – resumed labors to launch a new periodical.

He obtained some donations from friends and relatives, was prepared to mortgage his Villareal house and contributed his own meager savings to launch Luz Católica, a weekly which was first published in late 1900.

Posing as a genuine Traditionalist voice, Luz Católica started to castigate cesarism and hypocrisy of Carlos VII and his men, including the party leader Barrio y Miér; they allegedly opted for rapprochement with the Restoration system.

Dwelling mostly upon the failed 1900 insurrection which allegedly left ardent and dedicated partisans of the cause abandoned by their leaders, the authors presented Carlos VII as traitor to the cause and to the men who trusted him, a delator, fraudster sold out to liberalism and perhaps a man financed with the Alfonsist money.

[75] Scholars reconstruct his españolismo as "a form of anti-liberal Spanish nationalism,[76] founded on ultramontane Catholicism and Traditionalism, with the objective of building a moderate, regionalist monarchy and corporative society".

[81] It adhered to a hybrid formula in-between a secular religious order, paramilitary organisation[82] and traditional círculo; its membership is unclear, though it should probably be estimated in tens rather than hundreds.

As its leader Corbató assumed a new name, Francisco María Cruz; the militia operated thanks to minor donations and sought support of the local religious hierarchy.

[90] The local hierarchy viewed him as a "dangerous man"; Victoriano Guisasola y Menéndez suspended his ministerial licenses[91] and denounced his writings as deviating from the orthodox Catholic teaching.