Object of spiritual significance to carry before mass? (5)
I believe the answer is:
totem
'object of spiritual significance' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'carry before mass?' is the wordplay.
'carry' becomes 'tote' (toting is a kind of carrying**).
'before' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'mass?' becomes 'm' (symbol used in Physics e.g. f=ma).
'tote'+'m'='TOTEM'
'to' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for totem that I've seen before include "Object believed to have spiritual significance" , "Idol" , "(Tribal) emblem" , "emblem of tribe?" , "Natural emblem of spiritual significance" .)