Church of St. Mary Magdalene (Toronto)
The Church of St. Mary Magdalene (also known as SMM) is a parish of the Anglican Church of Canada located in Toronto. It is named for Jesus' companion, Mary Magdalene, and is famous for its association with composer Healey Willan, who was organist and choirmaster for over four decades. The church was built in 1888.
Church of St. Mary Magdalene
1888
1908
St. Mary Magdalene
Eric Beresford
William Cruse, Theo Ipema, John Whittall
Jake Cunliffe
David Simon
Variety of worship[edit]
The parish celebrates contemporary language liturgies based on the Canadian Book of Alternative Services. SMM was involved in the development of the "reordered" 1962 Eucharistic Rite contained in the BAS. For some time the parish had experimented by literally cutting and pasting pages of the Canadian Book of Common Prayer into the Anglican Missal. The resulting "reordered rite" combined the sequence of Roman usage, Canadian BCP prayers, and supplemental liturgical material (e.g. minor propers) from more ancient sources.
Cultural references[edit]
SMM was part of the composite that Robertson Davies used to form "St. Aidan's" in his novel The Cunning Man. Davies attended Mass there while he was a Presbyterian student at Upper Canada College.[7] The church is also mentioned in Marian Engel's "The Glassy Sea."
Notable people[edit]
On 3 July 1989, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother visited the church, participated in the Solemn Mass, and unveiled a national historic plaque to the memory of Healey Willan.[3]
The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, former Governor General of Canada is a parishioner of the parish .[1]