ablate, oblate

Oblate or oblate means a person connected to a religious order, but not a member --
He doesn't want to join the order; he wants to remain an oblate.
He follows the rule of the monastery, but he is an oblate, not a monk.

Oblate is also the formal name of some religious orders of Christian monks, friars, or nuns --
He belongs to the Oblates of Saint Francis.

Ablate or ablate, most commonly a medical term, but also a general term, means to destroy or remove something from a surface --
The doctor wants to use electricity to ablate the tumor.
Uncommonly warm weather may ablate the glacier significantly.

Now that you know that, you can say--
"The old oblate has cancer; the doctor used radio frequency to ablate his liver."