This research is part of the ERC-project 'Novel Saints: Ancient novelistic heroism in the hagiography of Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages'. This project aims to trace and interpret ancient novelistic material in Greek, Latin, Syriac, and Persian literary traditions. In this research, we focus on late antique Latin hagiographical texts, mainly martyr acts and passions, as well as saints' lives. In the first place, we investigate novelistic influences in the construction of martyrs and saints as Christian heroes/heroines. Secondly, we examine how this heroic reconstruction impacts the fictionalization of Latin hagiography.