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Key figures

Origin and history

The Saint-André church of Saint-André, located on the island of La Réunion, came into being in 1740, when 45 families in the area, deprived of a place of worship, demanded the construction of a chapel. The climatic conditions and distances to the nearby churches of Sainte-Suzanne or Saint-Benoît make travel difficult. In 1743, a wooden chapel was erected under the direction of Father Jean-Antoine of Urre de Beaumetz, but a fire destroyed it in 1750. A first masonry church was completed in 1752.

In 1793 St Andrew became a counter-revolutionary bastion, and the Colonial Assembly decided to shave the church in 1795, even abolishing the commune. The parish was restored in 1797, but without a church or parish priest. It was only in 1817 that Father Minot revived the construction of a new church, blessed in 1821 and consecrated in 1852 by Monsignor Desprez, the first bishop of the colony. Father Minot, who died in 1856, was buried in the church in recognition of his dedication.

Church architecture, eclectic in style, combines neoclassical elements (six-span nave, wooden vault) and neo-Gothic elements (arcs in warhead, bell tower arrow). The expansion works carried out between 1960 and 1964 by Father Réponse, as well as the stained glass windows created by Charles Carrère under the impulse of Father Émile Baptiste, enrich his heritage. In 2006, a relic of St Andrew, offered by the Archbishop of Amalfi, was installed, giving the church an exceptional spiritual dimension.

The remarkable elements include the stained glass windows narrate biblical scenes, the relic of St.Andre (a 12th century jaw fragment), and interior and exterior statues, such as that of Joan of Arc erected in 1899. The church also survived several cyclones (1944-1948) and benefited from restorations, notably between 2001 and 2004 with the support of the C.H.A.M.

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