Police later surrounded the church and French TV reportedly said that shots were fired. Both hostage-takers are now dead.
President Francois Hollande said the men claimed to be from so-called Islamic State (IS).
Speaking in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, he said the terrorists had committed a "cowardly assassination" and France would fight the IS "by all means".
Pope Francis decried the "pain and horror of this absurd violence".
French interior ministry spokesman, Pierre-Henri Brandet, said one of the hostages had been critically wounded.
He said the hostage-takers had been "neutralised" after coming out of the church. Police were now searching the church for explosives.
Police sources said it appeared the attackers had slit the priest's throat with a knife.
The area has been cordoned off and police have told people to stay away.
Mr Brandet said the investigation into the incident would be led by anti-terrorism prosecutors.
One of the men was known to the French intelligence services, French TV channel M6 has reported.
A woman who works at a local beauty parlour, Eulalie Garcia, said she had known the priest since her childhood.
"My family has lived here for 35 years and we have always known him," she said.
"He was someone who was treasured by the community. He was very discreet and didn't like to draw attention to himself."
There was no immediate word on the identity of the hostage-takers, but France has been on high alert since the Bastille Day attack in Nice earlier this month, when a man ploughed a lorry into celebrating crowds, killing more than 80 people.
The Nice attack was carried out by Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, who was not a known jihadist but so-called Islamic State said he had acted in response to its calls to target civilians in countries that have been attacking it.
The BBC's Lucy Williamson in Paris says the French government has been under huge pressure to prevent further attacks.
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