A mystical drama founded on the life of Saint Patrick, "commonly ranked among the best religious plays of the Spanish theatre in the seventeenth century." By the Spanish dramatist and poet who wrote more than 70 plays, the majority of which were secular dramas written for the commercial theatres. He was made a knight of the order of Santiago by Philip IV, and initiated what has been called the second cycle of Spanish Golden Age theatre. His strength lay in his capacity for poetic beauty, dramatic structure and philosophical depth. He was a perfectionist who often revisited and reworked his plays.