Nun Charged, Given Mental Test After Fires Hit Convent

DARTMOUTH, Mass. — A nun from a cloistered, ascetic order underwent psychiatric examination Monday after being charged with setting five fires that damaged her convent and triggered a natural gas explosion that injured nine firefighters.

The other eight sisters who lived at the house were forced to seek temporary lodging in a convent in nearby New Bedford. None was injured in Sunday’s blaze.

Sister Maria Gartner, 39, was arrested Sunday and arraigned on a charge of burning a dwelling house. District Judge John A. Markey ordered her to undergo psychiatric observation at Taunton State Hospital. “She had a breakdown,” said Father John Moore, a spokesman for the diocese. “She really had a psychiatric crisis.”