Of uncertain origin, the Monastery of Santo André de Rendufe was founded by Egas Paes de Penegate on a plot of land donated by Count D. Henrique to the friars of the Benedictine Monastery of Abadia. However, according to an inscription on the pavement next to the triumphal arch, the church was completed in 1151. Due to the ruinous management of the commendatory abbots and the quarrels between them, the archbishop and the Vasconcelos family, the monastery was eventually closed in the 15th century and transformed into a collegiate church under the administration of Cardinal Alpedrinha. In fact, the latter's family owned the monastery until the 16th century, when the commander D. Henrique de Sousa reformed and restored the monastic house.

This campaign of works allowed the church to remain in place until the 18th century, without it being integrated into the group of monasteries remodelled after the creation of the Benedictine Congregation in 1567. Throughout the 17th century, several renovations were undertaken with the aim of updating the church, as demonstrated by the façade of the entrance hall, inspired by models published in Serlio's architectural treatise. Although a complete renovation of the complex was undertaken in the 18th century, a large part of it was destroyed by a fire in 1877.