professed

To administer the vows of a religious order to (someone); to admit to a religious order. (Chiefly in passive.)

To declare oneself (to be something).

To declare; to assert, affirm.

To make a claim (to be something); to lay claim to (a given quality, feeling etc.), often with connotations of insincerity.

To declare one's adherence to (a religion, deity, principle etc.).

To work as a professor of; to teach.

To claim to have knowledge or understanding of (a given area of interest, subject matter).

Openly declared or acknowledged.

“His professed religion was Catholicism.”

Professing to be qualified.

“She is a professed expert in mechanics.”