Several of Francisco de Quevedo’s hagiographic poems are puzzling because of their irreverent tone. Edward M. Wilson and Jose Manuel Blecua both noted that “la relacion entre las dos caras de un Quevedo es cuestión difícil y delicada para los modernos;” indeed, the writer’s particular
blend of las burlas con las veras has attracted attention since the
eighteenth century. One cannot say why Quevedo chose to allow
the contradictory impulses of mirth and awe to cohabit in these
hagiographic poems. What can be shown, however, is that Quevedo’s
poem to Saint Lawrence follows rather closely the tradition
of Roman martyrological legend, while the poems to Mary
Magdalen and Saint Peter echo the conventions of the “literature
of tears” tradition.