Shame about evangelist’s initial devoutness (5)
I believe the answer is:
piety
'devoutness' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'shame about evangelist's initial' is the wordplay.
'shame' becomes 'pity' ('pity' can be a synonym of 'shame').
'about' indicates putting letters inside.
'initial' indicates taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'evangelists' is 'e'.
'pity' enclosing 'e' is 'PIETY'.
(Other definitions for piety that I've seen before include "Reverence for a god" , "Quality of being religious" , "Holiness" , "Dutiful devotion" , "Attentive religious practice" .)