The problems you have a normal with a solo priest. He just doesn't have good enough spells at lvl 1 like the wizard has. The priest needs some levels to bloom, but then he will be awesome. Prepare for a tough Act I.
I guess you want to use a sword & shield setup? Or maybe dual swords? Because if you want to focus on melee there's only the sword, summoned weapons and soulbounds which work with Inspiring Flame (Magran's weapon talent, +10 ACC).
I used Firebrand with my priest of Magran (and an arquebus with Runnner's Wounding Shot for the opening shot), because it works with Scion of Flame, WF soldier and also Inspiring Flame. I skilled for total offense and used Consecrated Ground, Triumph of the Crusaders and Veteran's Recovery for constant healing. This works well with Shod-in-Faith boots as well and also with items that give bonus healing- like Fulvano's Amulet. Firebrand works really well with crits (you should pick Doemenel) and also with very high MIG (Champion's Boon, Aggrandizing Radiance, Minor Avatar) because its base damage is huge.
This approach could also work for dual wielding swords but I never tried it with a priest.
If you go sword & board you don't need too much healing because your buffs and the shield will raise your defenses good enough. but your melee damage will not be significant. But honestly you won't attack with your weapon a lot at some point because your spells will be plenty and they will be more effective than auto-attacking. At that point you will be happy that you have a shield that also gives you benefits when not attacking with your weapon.