diff --git a/src/main/java/org/purl/sword/server/fedora/utils/StartupListener.java b/src/main/java/org/purl/sword/server/fedora/utils/StartupListener.java
index 24ac685..640c3ba 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/purl/sword/server/fedora/utils/StartupListener.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/purl/sword/server/fedora/utils/StartupListener.java
@@ -128,41 +128,53 @@ public void contextInitialized(ServletContextEvent sce) {
     public void contextDestroyed(ServletContextEvent sce) {
     }
 
-    private void initLog4j() {
-        String logConfigPath = getAbsolutePathToResource(
-                orDefaultIfNull(getFirstValid(
-                                System.getProperty("log4j.configuration"),
-                                context.getInitParameter("log-config")),
-                        "WEB-INF/log4j.xml"));
-        log.info("Taking log4j config from: " + logConfigPath);
-        configure(logConfigPath);
+    private String getAbsolutePathToResource(String resourcePath) throws Exception {
+        File file;
+        if (resourcePath.startsWith("/")) {
+            file = new File(resourcePath);
+        } else {
+            final String realPath = context.getRealPath(resourcePath);
+            if (realPath == null) {
+                throw new Exception("Cannot obtain absolute path to file if wrapped in war-archive.");
+            }
+            file = new File(realPath);
+        }
+        return file.getAbsolutePath();
     }
 
-    private void initPropertiesLocation() {
-        propertiesLocation = getAbsolutePathToResource(
-                orDefaultIfNull(getFirstValid(
-                                System.getProperty("project.properties"),
-                                context.getInitParameter("project.properties")),
-                        "WEB-INF/properties.xml"));
-        log.info("Loading properties files from: " + propertiesLocation);
+    private String getFirstValid(String... values) {
+        for (String s : values) if (s != null) return s;
+        return null;
     }
 
-    private String getAbsolutePathToResource(String resourcePath) {
-        if (resourcePath.startsWith("/")) {
-            File file = new File(resourcePath);
-            return file.getAbsolutePath();
-        } else {
-            // assume file is in servlet context
-            return context.getRealPath(resourcePath);
+    private void initLog4j() {
+        try {
+            String logConfigPath = getAbsolutePathToResource(
+                    orDefaultIfNull(getFirstValid(
+                                    System.getProperty("log4j.configuration"),
+                                    context.getInitParameter("log-config")),
+                            "WEB-INF/log4j.xml"));
+            log.info("Taking log4j config from: " + logConfigPath);
+            configure(logConfigPath);
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            log.error("Error initializing logging: " + e.getMessage());
         }
     }
 
-    private String orDefaultIfNull(String s, String defaultValue) {
-        return (s == null) ? defaultValue : s;
+    private void initPropertiesLocation() {
+        try {
+            propertiesLocation = getAbsolutePathToResource(
+                    orDefaultIfNull(getFirstValid(
+                                    System.getProperty("project.properties"),
+                                    context.getInitParameter("project.properties")),
+                            "WEB-INF/properties.xml"));
+            log.info("Loading properties files from: " + propertiesLocation);
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            log.fatal("Fatal Error initializing properties: " + e.getMessage());
+        }
     }
 
-    private String getFirstValid(String... values) {
-        for (String s : values) if (s != null) return s;
-        return null;
+    private String orDefaultIfNull(String s, String defaultValue) {
+        return (s == null) ? defaultValue : s;
     }
 }