St Mary Magdalene's is a parish church of the Anglican Church of Australia. It is one of the oldest buildings in South Australia, and was originally built in 1841 on the site on which St John's Church, Halifax Street now stands. The church was taken down and rebuilt in Moore Street in 1886, where it was dedicated to St John as a Mission Church. In 1893, when it was free of debt, the building was consecrated and re-dedicated, this time to St Mary Magdalene, on the 4th of March that year. St Mary Magdalene's remained attached to St John's Halifax Street until the early years of the twentieth century.
St Mary Magdalene's is built of red brick. From the street, perhaps the most distinctive feature of the church is the belfry.
Next door to the church (on the right in the picture)is the Mission Hall, a large two-storey stone building dating from 1912.
This building houses the parish offices and the Magdalene Centre. There are also catering facilities used by the parish
and its social outreach activities.
Our tour begins just outside the porch at the western
end of the church.
Our view here is dominated by a mosaic mural.
The mural depicts the crucifixion with St Mary Magdalene kneeling at the foot of the cross. It was constructed as a memorial to the fifteen parishioners who lost their lives in the Great War.
When you enter the porch and turn right into the Nave, you look down the central aisle towards the Sanctuary with the High Altar and the stained glass windows above it. The Sanctuary is shown in more detail later.
There are small arch ways on either side of the sanctuary. The arch on the left leads to the Chapel of the Holy Innocents, and the one on the right leads to the vestry. Between the sanctuary and the arch ways are two small shrines, which you can see more closely later.
Not shown in the picture are the baptismal font, which is immediately to the left, and the organ and choir stalls, which are immediately to the right as you enter the church. High behind you are the three lights of the west window. These are very old, certainly dating from the church's first position at Halifax Street. We know this because they are of comparable design and construction to some windows in Holy Trinity, North Terrace, which was built only a few years before the first church at Halifax Street. The windows are not made in the familiar "lead light" manner; they are a lattice of individually soldered T-shaped zinc bars into which each piece of glass has been laid and secured in place with putty.
The Sanctuary occupies the Eastern end of the building. It is dominated by a large wooden structure called a Reredos which surrounds the High Altar. The altar is adorned with colourful frontals which match the vestments in describing the Season of the Festival being celebrated.
Above the high altar are three stained glass windows depicting Christ, the Blessed Virgin and St Mary Magdalene.
In 1998 a new chancel altar for use in contemporary masses was commissioned and dedicated. Based on an Italian monastic refectory table, the altar is designed to complement the sanctuary, especially the Reredos. Being open, the altar does not impede sight lines to the high altar. The symbolism of the Holy Table is deliberate, drawing out the eucharistic continuity with the earliest Church traditions and the last Supper.
A red light burns in the ornate brass Sanctuary Lamp and is changed to white when the Blessed Sacrament is reserved in the Tabernacle on the High Altar.
The other important item in the Sanctuary is the Bishop's Throne, a large and distinctive chair normally placed on the top step to the left of the High Altar.
In the Nave of the church, on either side of the Sanctuary are two shrines on which statues and candles are situated. Small votive candles are also placed in separate stands nearby. On the left is the Shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary and on the right is the Shrine of St Mary Magdalene.
In the walls of the Nave hang fourteen Stations of the Cross, which picture Jesus' procession to Calvary, beginning with his condemnation to death on the Cross, and ending with the removal of his body by Joseph of Aramathea. Special devotions are offered before the Stations during the season of Lent, prior to the celebration of Jesus' resurrection at Easter.
The Chapel to the left of the Sanctuary is dedicated to the Holy Innocents, the innocent children killed by King Herod in his search for the infant Jesus. It is a memorial to Archdeacon Hornabrook, the parish priest in the early part of this century. To the left of the altar there is an Aumbry, in which Holy Oil used in sacramental anointing and the Blessed Sacrament are kept.
The chapel has a second shrine to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the ancient title of Our Lady of Succours, which is dedicated to Deaconess Mabel Walker, a notable parishioner and teacher. There is also a shrine to St Joseph.
Over the years, St Mary Magdalene's has received many generous benefactions of fixtures and fittings from other places of worship. Recent private donations and bequests have enabled the church's interior to be renovated and beautified by polishing the floor, repainting and installing new carpet.
The histories of a number of former parishes live on at St Mary Magdalene's, notably including the memorial pews, organ and some sanctuary furniture from St Mark's, Maylands, which closed in 1989, and the Reredos and some vestments from St Paul's, Pultney Street, which also closed in the 1980s.
