Mother Mary Praxedes Carty (born Susan 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.

[7][2] Mother Praxedes raised money for the academy and forced parents through the court system to pay delinquent tuition.

[7] In 1886, Eugene Van Patten, the tax assessor sued the Las Cruces Loretto Academy, claiming that the sisters were using the building for profit, rather than charity.

[7] Mother Praxedes testified in court about the vegetable garden and other aspects of charity the group was involved with.

[3] Here, she helped prevent the foreclosure of the land the school was built on by negotiating an extension of the loan with the mortgage holders.

[13] 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.

[4] Mother Praxedes and the Mistress of Novices spent their time studying in Rome while they waited on the Pope's decision.

[4] She spent time visiting the Las Cruces academy again in 1909, where she was welcomed with a program featuring music and choir song.

[23] Also in July, Mother Praxedes started working on the Loretto College for Women in St. Louis, Missouri, which is now known as Webster University.

[24] During the 1918 flu pandemic, Mother Praxedes sent sisters to work as nurses into places that needed assistance.

[27] Residents of El Paso and the local bishop didn't initially believe that parents would want to send their children to the school located there and many called the project "Praxedes Folly.

[28] In 1927, the Catholic Students' Mission Crusade awarded their highest distinction, the Grand Cross of the Paladins, to Mother Praxedes.

[6] A novel based on Mother Praxedes' life, Only One Heart, by Sister Patricia Jean Manion was published in 1963.

[35][36] In 2001, Mother Praxedes was named to the Hall of Honor by the El Paso County Historical Society.