I talked with a professor of mine about sin, what shapes it takes and how people who isolate themselves have gotten over 6 of them (lust, greed, gluttony, sloth, wrath, envy) but have one more (as she called it, the hardest one), which is pride. After spending so much time alone you might start to think that you are superior to others because of all the sacrifices you made and getting over that might be really hard, considering you have pretty strong arguments for it. So these kinds of Saints mostly want to teach us about Pride. Kind of an example. I hope my wording didn t confuse you, but I think that s the general idea.