Judith is blessed among all women (for cutting off a sleeping man's head)

If you were to ask a Catholic who is the most blessed of all woman in the Bible, the answer would most likely be Mary, the mother of Jesus.

And there's some evidence for that. Here, after all, is how the angel Gabriel addressed Mary in gospel of Luke:

Hail [Mary], full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Luke 1:28

It's the first part of the "Hail Mary" that Catholics say 53 times when saying the Rosary.

But there are two other women in the Bible that could qualify for the Most Blessed of All Women award.

Remember Jael? You know, the one that drove a tent stake through a sleeping man's skull?

Here's what the Bible said about her:

Blessed above women shall Jael ... be, blessed shall she be above women ... She put her hand to the nail ... and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples. Judges 5:24

So Jael is blessed above all women -- including Mary, I guess.

But there's one more competitor -- Judith.

Her story is found in the Book of Judith, which is in the Catholic Bible, but is considered apocryphal by Protestants. Here's her story.

Judith was a beautiful widow who fasted all the time (except on the sabbath) and wore haircloth on her loins.

And she wore haircloth upon her loins, and fasted all the days of her life, except the sabbaths, and new moons, and the feasts of the house of Israel. And she was exceedingly beautiful. Judith 8:6-7

She asked God to help her kill her enemies the way he helped Simeon slaughter the newly circumcised Hivites in the Dinah/Shechem love story massacre.

O Lord God of my father Simeon, who gavest him a sword to execute vengeance against strangers, who had defiled by their uncleanness, and uncovered the virgin unto confusion: And who gavest their wives to be made a prey, and their daughters into captivity ... who were zealous with thy zeal: assist ... me. 9:2-3

And the prayer worked. God, the great beautician, made Judith even more beautiful, so she could seduce and murder the Assyrian general, Holofernes.

The Lord also gave her more beauty ... so that she appeared to all men's eyes incomparably lovely. 10:4

The heart of Holofernes was smitten, for he was burning with the desire of her. 12:16

She lied to him about her intentions, partied with him in his tent; then, after he fell asleep in a drunken stupor, she cut off his head.

Holofernes was made merry on her occasion, and drank exceeding much wine, so much as he had never drunk in his life. 12:20

Holofernes lay on his bed, fast asleep, being exceedingly drunk. 13:4

Judith stood before the bed praying ... Saying: Strengthen me, O Lord ... that it might be done by thee. And when she had said this, she ... loosed his sword ... And ... she took him by the hair of his head ... And she struck twice upon his neck, and cut off his head. 13:6-10

And for that act, Judith is declared to be blessed above all women upon the earth.

Blessed art thou, O daughter, by the Lord the most high God, above all women upon the earth ... God ... hath cut off the head of all the unbelievers this night by my hand.13:23-27

So now you see my problem, don't you? Who is the most blessed woman to ever live? Mary, Jael, or Judith?

I think it has to be Judith. Mary and Jael are "blessed among women," but Judith is "blessed above all women." So I think Judith wins the gold and deserves her own rosary.