Life of priest in strange order (6)
I believe the answer is:
esprit
'life' is the definition.
(I know that esprit is a type of life)
'priest in strange order' is the wordplay.
'in strange order' indicates an anagram.
'priest' with letters rearranged gives 'ESPRIT'.
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for esprit that I've seen before include "Vivacity, liveliness" , "Vivacious wit" , "Lively wit" , "Sparkling quality" , "Stripe (anag)" .)