Cops have made an arrest in the alleged arson that forced a nun to jump out a second-floor window at a Staten Island convent last weekend, a law-enforcement source told The Post.
Vincent Calder of Staten Island was arrested Thursday and allegedly confessed to throwing lit candles on the floor and starting the blaze at the St. Joseph Hill Convent in Arrochar on Saturday, the source said.
Calder allegedly broke into the convent to rob the place before starting predawn the fire.
The flames ripped through the chapel and the rectory, trapping Sister Regina Gegic upstairs and forcing her to leap from the second floor.
The 45-year-old nun broke three vertebrae in the jump but still had movement in her feet, a co-worker said.
Gegic was in intensive care at Staten Island University Hospital and facing a spinal operation as part of her recovery.
After paying a her a bedside visit this week, Timothy Cardinal Egan reported that the nun was in good spirits and “so hopeful.”
The fire caused $15,000 worth of damage, including to rooms and halls flooded with water and bleach, broken doors, smashed video monitors and sinks full of gravel, the Staten Island Advance reported.
Calder is awaiting charges at an NYPD station house on Staten Island.
The fire was being investigated as a possible hate crime