Judith Beheading Holofernes by Caravaggio

This was my Contemplative Art post for 31st May 2025

This page is dedicated to Catholic content of a different kind: art. The internet is a wonderful tool but browsing and scrolling isn't always the best thing to do. Sometimes, it is being still and contemplating God through sacred art. Let's do it together:

Judith Beheading Holofernes

by Caravaggio

This painting is certainly not for the faint hearted. It depicts the moment that Judith assassinates the Assyrian general Holofernes during his siege of the Israelite city of Bethulia. In order to accomplish her mission, Judith seduces Holofernes and gets him drunk. After decapitating him, she escapes the camp with his head, which she then shows to the Israelites. This inspires them to route Holofernes' panicking army.

What can we take from this painting today? How can it bring us closer to God?

I'll be honest, I'm not sure of the answer. It certainly shows that God's deliverance doesn't always come in ways that are heroic (according to our modern understanding of the term): Judith is forced to use her body in order to kill Holofernes. The Assyrian general is not brought to justice for his crimes but murdered in cold blood.

Perhaps the painting is reminding us that we have to be prepared to put our bodies - literally - on the line for Him, do things that in any normal condition would be unacceptable. The former is certainly true; we have to pick up our cross and carry it. The latter - actually, it kind of makes sense. For example, although a lie is always a lie and therefore is always sinful, there may well be times when it is necessary to lie in order to help a person or protect them from harm. In that case, though we have sinned, the circumstances mean that our culpability is reduced, maybe is zero. Murder is of its nature sinful, but the threat that Holofernes posed to Israel reduces Judith's culpability in the act. Given that the Assyrian army were on Bethulia's doorstep and in the process of starving the Israelites out, she had no choice but to do what she did in order to help her people.

Quite honestly, I think I need a theologian to help me on this one. How does Caravaggio's art work speak to you?