This analysis is excellent, but it lays out an important point yet does not make the connection. Ss. Augustine and Gregory "amalgamated her with the repentant woman" BECAUSE "the need for penance was felt deeply." Describing her as a penitent was a way to honor her, in the same vein as the earlier honors cited.

There are lots of oddities in the history of The Magdalene. I'm not convinced that it was later authors who amalgamated the different characters as much as it was St Luke who tore one character into two to make a point about repentance. But those are large questions on which we can disagree.

Today is Holy Saturday, a day of quiet listening between the death of Jesus and his Resurrction. Mary Magdalen is the image of this day, always listening to the Lord in the silence, remembering how she saw him die yesterday and preparing herself to visit his body tomorrow.