Saint removed from evil church feature in fire (7)
I believe the answer is:
inspire
'fire' is the definition.
(I know that inspire is a more specific form of excite)
'saint removed from evil church feature' is the wordplay.
'saint' becomes 's'.
'removed from' suggests deleting specific letters.
'evil' becomes 'sin' (synonyms).
'church feature' becomes 'spire' (spire is part of a church building).
'sin' with 's' taken out is 'in'.
'in'+'spire'='INSPIRE'
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for inspire that I've seen before include "Give rise to (a feeling)" , "Stimulate into creative activity" , "Fill with confidence - be the origin of" , "Fill someone with a feeling of confidence to do something" , "Fill with creative purpose" .)