Mother Praxedes Carty

Mother Mary Praxedes Carty (born Susan Carty; 1854 – 16 December 1933) was an Irish American educator and member of the Roman Catholic order of the Sisters of Loretto. Mother Praxedes worked throughout the Southwestern and Western areas of the United States building and improving churches and schools. She is known for updating the constitution for the order of the Sisters of Loretto, helping to build the school now known as Webster University and for founding the Loretto Academy in El Paso, Texas.

Early life and education

Mother Praxedes was born in Bawnboy in 1854 and was named Susan Carty. She was one of eleven children. In Cape Girardeau, she was impressed by the Loretto School and the sisters who worked there. Her mother and father returned to Ireland. The trip to New Mexico took place over thirteen days riding in a wagon and part of the way by ship. Two other nuns riding with Sister Praxedes died during the trip, one from cholera and the other was described as dying of fright after their caravan was attacked by Native Americans.

Career St. Genevieve Church in Las Cruces, New Mexico, dedicated on October 15, 1887. Praxedes went to Bernalillo, New Mexico in 1877 as a superior. The academy was $5,000 in debt and unfinished. The first bazaar held in April 1881 may have been the first to take place in the Southwest. The church was dedicated on 15 October 1887.

Mother Praxedes was sent to Florissant, Missouri for a year in 1893 then in 1894, she went to Loretto Heights outside Denver. Against the rules of the Order, she was appointed, rather than voted, Mother Superior of all of the Society of Sisters of Loretto in 1896 and went back to Loretto, Kentucky. In 1899, she toured the country, visiting convents and schools of the Loretto Order.

Mother Praxedes and the Mistress of Novices went to Rome in 1903 and brought a new constitution for the Sisters of Loretto to the Pope. The new constitution was viewed by Pope Pius IX in 1904 and put to a three-year trial. Shortly after that trip, she became ill and spent several weeks in recovery in Michigan. For part of 1907, she toured Loretto schools and convents in the Western states, starting in Missouri. Later, she went back to Rome in 1907 during which the new constitution was fully approved. In July 1910 she was re-elected as mother general of the Order.

Mother Praxedes began to work on rebuilding the Loretto Academy and beginning work on St. Paul Academy in St. Paul, Kansas in October 1914. In July 1916 she was re-elected as mother general of the Order. Also in July, Mother Praxedes started working on the Loretto College for Women in St. Louis, Missouri, which is now known as Webster University. During the 1918 flu pandemic, Mother Praxedes sent sisters to work as nurses into places that needed assistance.

Later life and death

Mother Praxedes came to El Paso, Texas in the early 1920s to help start a girls' school. In El Paso, Mother Praxedes chose the Austin Terrace area of El Paso to build her school, Loretto Academy. She worked with Gustavus A. Trost to create plans for the building. She bought 19 acres of land in the area on 20 March 1922. The location was far from the downtown area and good water sources.

Classes began on 11 September 1923.

Morther Praxedes went to St. Louis in 1931, where she went to secure an $80,000 loan for the academy. She died on 16 December 1933. Her funeral services were held on 18 December at Loretto Academy with hundreds in attendance. In 2001, Mother Praxedes was named to the Hall of Honor by the El Paso County Historical Society.