Église Saint-André de Saint-André, Cultural heritage church in Saint-André, La Réunion.

The église Saint-André de Saint-André has a basilical plan: a six-bay nave under a wooden vault, separated from the side aisles by rectangular basalt pillars carrying round arches, with pointed arches on two rows of dressed basalt columns leading to the main altar in the apse. A dressed-stone portico supports a wooden bell tower topped by a spire; the interior walls and vault are painted cream with light blue outlining the ribs and arches.

Residents of Saint-André petitioned the apostolic prefect Criais and the Compagnie des Indes in 1740, bought land that June, and built a wooden chapel from 1743 under Father Jean-Antoine d'Urre de Beaumetz. Fire destroyed it; a masonry church followed, finished in 1751. In 1795 the Colonial Assembly razed it after the town backed the counter-revolutionary "Amis de l'ordre". Father Minot arrived in 1817 and built the present church, blessed in 1821 and consecrated in 1852 by Bishop Florian Desprez.

The parish keeps a relic of the apostle Andrew, brought to the church in 2006 and dating from the 12th century. The church is named for him, and the banner above the altar quotes his calling: "Venez derrière moi, et je vous ferai pêcheurs d'hommes".

The church stands in the centre of Saint-André, on the east coast of La Réunion. Enter from the square where the white statue stands before the patterned wall; the nave runs toward the altar under the pale vault outlined in light blue. The building is a parish church, so visits fit around services.

Since 2006 the church has held a relic of the apostle Andrew dating from the 12th century. The stained-glass windows were made by master glassmaker Charles Carrère, and their delivery to the island is told as an adventure in its own right.