Saint worked in the past for capital (8)
I believe the answer is:
santiago
'capital' is the definition.
(capital of Chile)
'saint worked in the past' is the wordplay.
'worked' indicates anagramming the letters.
'in the past' becomes 'ago' (three years ago means three years in the past).
'saint' is an anagram of 'santi'.
'santi'+'ago'='SANTIAGO'
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for santiago that I've seen before include "South American capital" , "Capital of Chile" , "Chilean capital" , "Chile's capital" , "City" .)