Soon about to embrace vice, outwardly displaying devotion (6)
I believe the answer is:
novena
'devotion' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'soon about to embrace vice outwardly' is the wordplay.
'soon' becomes 'anon' (I've seen this before).
'about' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'to embrace' indicates putting letters inside.
'outwardly' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters) (only the outermost letters are used).
'vice' with its centre removed is 've'.
'anon' in reverse letter order is 'nona'.
'nona' enclosing 've' is 'NOVENA'.
'displaying' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for novena that I've seen before include "Sequence of prayers" , "RC devotion over nine days" , "Nine consecutive days of prayer or worship" , "Catholic nine-day devotion" , "Prayers on nine consecutive days" .)