Church of St. Mary Magdalene | |
---|---|
Denomination | Anglican |
Churchmanship | Anglo-Catholic |
Website | stmarymagdalene.ca |
History | |
Dedication | Mary Magdalene |
Architecture | |
Architect(s) | Darling and Pearson |
Style | Gothic Revival |
Groundbreaking | 1888 |
Completed | 1908 |
Administration | |
Province | Ontario |
Diocese | Toronto |
Deanery | Parkdale |
Parish | St. Mary Magdalene |
Clergy | |
Priest in charge | Eric Beresford |
Honorary priest(s) | William Cruse, Theo Ipema, John Whittall |
Curate(s) | Jake Cunliffe |
Laity | |
Organist/Director of music | David Simon |
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.
SMM is an Anglo-Catholic parish. Originally the church used a liturgical style reflecting the convergence of Roman Catholic and Anglican influences. In 1919, the church shifted more towards Roman-style parish life. At that time the Rev H. Griffin Hiscocks began hearing private confessions.
During this period, the church began to use incense and installed a large statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary (now in the south aisle of the church). Newspaper accounts of the time relate that the installation was controversial. A chip in the statue's toe shows evidence of a hammer attack made by those hostile to Catholicism. [1] [2]
In 1966, the church became one of the first Anglican churches in Canada whose priests gave the Solemn Mass facing the congregation, [3] as became common among Catholics following the Second Vatican Council.
"In 1967 the Rev'd Mountain "Monty" Hutt became rector ... [and] organized the first outdoor procession of the Blessed Sacrament in 1974." [3]
Rev Hutt was the brother of William Hutt, an actor in the Stratford Festival who also toured nationally and internationally. [4]
The church was founded in 1888 by a group from the nearby Church of St. Matthias led by the Reverend Charles Darling, who had previously been an assistant at the Church of St Mary Magdalene, Paddington. The church building was designed by the rector's brother—Toronto architect Frank Darling.
The original building was completed in 1908, with a choir loft added in the 1920s. In 1993, renovations added spaces for instruction, meeting, and church administration. In 2008, another renovation to the liturgical space opened up windows that had been closed in the 1920s.
SMM has a collection of sacred art. A Rood Cross hangs from the chancel arch to commemorate the parish war dead of World War I. It was designed by architect William Rae, modelled by Frances Loring and originally painted by Frank Johnston (one of the Group of Seven). Sylvia Hahn painted a pastoral scene of a young Jesus in the north aisle, as well as the triptych behind the Lady Altar in the south aisle. A painting by Lynn Donoghue hanging near the baptismal font explores the challenges of faith in the modern age. Devotional stations include statues of St. Benedict, St. Joseph, St. Mary Magdalene.
SMM is known for excellence in sacred music. In 1940, Robertson Davies reported in the magazine Saturday Night that there were only two things worth doing in Toronto, seeing the Chinese Collection at the Royal Ontario Museum and listening to St. Mary Magdalene's choirs. This owed much to the work of Healey Willan who came to the parish in 1921 and remained as the organist and choirmaster until shortly before his death in 1968. Willan composed music for the church’s liturgies and performance elsewhere that have lasting use and influence. He was at one time best known internationally as the only composer outside England who was asked for and provided music for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. [5] He was also an accomplished organist famous for his improvisational skill. He once remarked, "You have a sense of home, absolute completion... doing the work you want to do and the work you feel you can do." [6]
The musical services of Tenebrae celebrated in Holy Week are the best attended services of the year. The choirs specialise in polyphonic music, Gregorian Chant, and modern music by diverse composers, especially Canadian composers.
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.
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."
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 .
Anglican church music is music that is written for Christian worship in Anglican religious services, forming part of the liturgy. It mostly consists of pieces written to be sung by a church choir, which may sing a cappella or accompanied by an organ.
James Healey Willan was an Anglo-Canadian organist and composer. He composed more than 800 works including operas, symphonies, chamber music, a concerto, and pieces for band, orchestra, organ, and piano. He is best known for his church music.
The Anglican Church of Canada is the province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is l'Église anglicane du Canada. In 2017, the Anglican Church counted 359,030 members on parish rolls in 2,206 congregations, organized into 1,571 parishes. The 2021 Canadian census counted 1,134,315 self-identified Anglicans, making the Anglican Church the third-largest Canadian church after the Catholic Church and the United Church of Canada. The 2021 Canadian census counted more than 1 million self-identified Anglicans, remaining the third-largest Canadian church.
Gerald Albert Bales, was a Canadian organist and composer.
St. Thomas's Church, Huron Street is a parish of the Anglican Church of Canada in Toronto, Ontario. One of the earliest Anglo-Catholic congregations in Canada, it was established in 1874, moving twice before settling into its present building, adjacent to the Annex on the western edge of the University of Toronto's downtown campus.
St Bartholomew's Anglican Church is a parish of the Diocese of Toronto in the Anglican Church of Canada. It is a ministry in collaboration with the Cathedral Church of St. James. Located in the Regent Park area of Toronto, the congregation operates several outreach programs. It is an Anglo-Catholic parish maintaining 'Full Catholic Privileges'.
Robert James Berkeley Fleming was a Canadian composer, pianist, organist, choirmaster and teacher.
Derek Holman, was a choral conductor, organist and composer.
Henry Hugh Bancroft was a British organist, choirmaster, and composer who was organist of five cathedrals. He was born in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, and studied music with E. P. Guthrie and J. S. Robinson in nearby Grimsby.
St. Paul's, Bloor Street, is an Anglican church located at 227 Bloor Street East in Toronto, Ontario. The present church building, completed in 1913, was designed by E. J. Lennox in the Gothic Revival style. At 10,000 square metres (110,000 sq ft), it is the largest church in the Diocese of Toronto. The building is designated under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act as being of cultural heritage value or interest. It is the regimental church of The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada.
St Mary Magdalene Church, Newark-on-Trent is the parish church of Newark-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire, England. It is dedicated to Mary Magdalene and is the tallest structure in the town.
Frederick Robert Charles Clarke, known largely by his initials F. R. C. Clarke was a Canadian musician and composer who spent most of his musical career in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Walter Louis MacNutt was a Canadian organist, choir director, and composer. His compositional output includes numerous choral works, songs, pieces for solo organ, and works for orchestra, many of which have been published by companies like Broadcast Music Incorporated, Frederick Harris Music, the Waterloo Music Company, and the Western Music Company. In 1938 his Suite for Piano was awarded the first Vogt Society prize for Canadian composition. One of his more popular works, the secular song Take Me to a Green Isle, is taken from a poem by H.E. Foster. He also composed many songs to the poems of William Blake. In his later years, he composed music mainly for the Anglican church, include two Missae breves and the Mass of St James (1974).
Stanley Drummond Wolff was an English organist, choirmaster, composer, and music educator who was primarily active in North America. His compositional output primarily consists of anthems for choir and works for solo organ. In the 1980s he completed and published four volumes of hymns. Many of his compositions have been published by Concordia Publishing House and MorningStar Music Publishers.
The Toronto Choral Society was founded in 1845. Music was a popular form of entertainment for a rapidly growing and prosperous population, so a group of citizens formed a choral society in order to give concerts and foster the development of the local musical community. F.W. Barron, the headmaster of Upper Canada College, became the choir's first president, and James P. Clarke, organist at St. James Cathedral, was its first conductor.
Hugh John McLean CM was a Canadian organist, choirmaster, pianist, harpsichordist, administrator, teacher, musicologist, composer, and editor.
Margaret Isobel Drynan was a Canadian composer, musician, writer and educator.
Charles Peaker, born in England, was a Canadian organist, choirmaster and academic.
The Cathedral of St. Alban the Martyr is an unfinished Anglican church in Toronto, Ontario, which serves as the school chapel of Royal St. George's College.
Arthur Harry Cross was a chorister, organist, choirmaster and composer of sacred and secular music, who was appointed organist and choirmaster at St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham in 1878 at the age of 20. He continued in that position for 28 years until his death of heart disease in 1906.