St.Mary Magdalene, St.Mary of Bethany and the sinful woman wo anointed Jesus are separated women

St.Mary Magdalene, St.Mary of Bethany and the sinful woman wo anointed Jesus are separated women.

Although many people still picture the Magdalen as a sinful woman who anointed Jesus and equate her with Mary of Bethany,
that conflation is actually the later work of Pope St. Gregory the Great. The East has always kept them separate and said that the Magdalen, "apostle to the apostles," died in Ephesus.
The legend of her voyage to Provence is no earlier than the ninth century, and her relics weren't reported there until the 13th.
Catholic critics, including the Bollandists, have been debunking the legend and distinguishing the three ladies since the 17th century.

http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/persecution/pch0058.html

Nothing in the Bible says she was a prostitute. Magdalene is named by Mark (15:40-41) and Matthew (27:55-56) as one of the women from Galilee. Luke (8:2) says seven devils (probably mental illness) were cast from her. The Gospels place her at the Crucifixion, watching from a distance. She might have remained a minor character, except the Bible says she was the first witness to Jesus' resurrection -- therefore a critical figure in the Easter story. But after telling the disciples what she has seen, she's never mentioned again in the Scriptures.

John describes Mary of Bethany anointing Jesus' feet and wiping them with her hair. In Luke, an unnamed woman does the same thing, but this one is called a sinner. In the next chapter, Luke tells of Mary of Magdala and her demons.

Magdalene's reputation as wanton was sealed by 591 when Pope Gregory announced that Magdalene, Mary of Bethany and the sinner were the same woman. (In 1969, the Catholic Church restored them to three separate individuals.)
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http://www.apologeticsindex.org/m25.html