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.

It was designed by architect William Rae, modelled by Frances Loring and originally painted by Frank Johnston (one of the Group of Seven).

A painting by Lynn Donoghue hanging near the baptismal font explores the challenges of faith in the modern age.

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.

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.

For some time the parish had experimented by 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.