If you look closely at the lives of all of the Saints,you will find one absolute distinct thing.
They ALL humbly submitted themselves to Christ in the Eucharist.
In doing so reveals the secret of the Saints who thus submitted themselves to the will of God.
You see, Dear Brother,A Saint is someone who loves God,s will-who completely embrace what God has willed for them even if it meant the cross.
This is a complete denial of self,and the Saints knew that in the Eucharist this is attainable because they understood that humans are far to narrow for their own selves
Thus in the Eucharist their minds were enlightened by the gift of faith reveal Jesus presence(that is vield) in the Blessed Sacrament beyond what human eyes can see,thus this is the kind of Faith produces complete selfless Love that can only come from Christ himself indwelling in us.
This ,Dear Brother, is what Christ established in the Eucharist.thus the same thing is attainable for us to become like the saints but,ONLY,ONLY ONLY if we deny ourselves .
From the words of St Therese of Lisieux....
"Do you realize that Jesus is there in the tabernacle expressly for you - for you alone? He burns with the desire to come into your heart...don't listen to the demon, laugh at him, and go without fear to receive the Jesus of peace and love...
"Receive Communion often, very often...there you have the sole remedy, if you want to be cured. Jesus has not put this attraction in your heart for nothing..."
"The guest of our soul knows our misery; He comes to find an empty tent within us - that is all He asks."
- St. Therese of Lisieux
You said...
""I also believe that most of their views were tainted by their pagan culture""
Be careful not to make the grave mistake,this is the type of statement that breads atheism.
My guess is that you are trying to make the connection to Mithraism or something like it?
This is Calvin , Jack Chick, and others grave error
Here is an excerpt to help you
From
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10402a.htm Excerpt;
Mithraism had a Eucharist, but the idea of a sacred banquet is as old as the human race and existed at all ages and amongst all peoples. Mithra saved the world by sacrificing a bull; Christ by sacrificing Himself. It is hardly possible to conceive a more radical difference than that between Mithra taurochtonos and Christ crucified. Christ was born of a Virgin; there is nothing to prove that the same was believed of Mithra born from the rock. Christ was born in a cave; and Mithraists worshipped in a cave, but Mithra was born under a tree near a river. Much as been made of the presence of adoring shepherds; but their existence on sculptures has not been proven, and considering that man had not yet appeared, it is an anachronism to suppose their presence. (3) Christ was an historical personage, recently born in a well known town of Judea, and crucified under a Roman governor, whose name figured in the ordinary official lists. Mithra was an abstraction, a personification not even of the sun but of the diffused daylight; his incarnation, if such it may be called, was supposed to have happened before the creation of the human race, before all history. The small Mithraic congregations were like masonic lodges for a few and for men only and even those mostly of one class, the military; a religion that excludes the half of the human race bears no comparison to the religion of Christ. Mithraism was all comprehensive and tolerant of every other cult, the Pater Patrum himself was an adept in a number of other religions; Christianity was essential exclusive, condemning every other religion in the world, alone and unique in its majesty.