VATICAN CITY — A Midland-born seminarian with the Diocese of Saginaw will be ordained to the transitional diaconate during a ceremony at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City this week.

Charles Warner will be among 20 seminarians who will participate in the ceremony on Thursday, Oct. 2, Diocese of Saginaw officials said.

The ceremony is the last step before ordination to the priesthood, which he is on track to achieve early next year, officials said.

Members of Warner’s family as well as the Diocese of Saginaw — including Bishop Robert Gruss — plan to attend the Thursday gathering.

Warner is a fourth-year student pursuing the priesthood at Pontifical North American College in Vatican City.

He is a parishioner of St. John Vianney Parish in Saginaw Township.

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