diff --git a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/ConsumerEndpointFactoryBean.java b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/ConsumerEndpointFactoryBean.java
index 8a3ddafb71..06c9bb4335 100644
--- a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/ConsumerEndpointFactoryBean.java
+++ b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/ConsumerEndpointFactoryBean.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2008 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2009 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ import org.springframework.util.Assert;
  */
 public class ConsumerEndpointFactoryBean implements FactoryBean, BeanFactoryAware, BeanNameAware, InitializingBean, ApplicationListener {
 
-	private final MessageHandler handler;
+	private volatile MessageHandler handler;
 
 	private volatile String beanName;
 
@@ -58,10 +58,15 @@ public class ConsumerEndpointFactoryBean implements FactoryBean, BeanFactoryAwar
 
 	private final Object initializationMonitor = new Object();
 
+	private final Object handlerMonitor = new Object();
 
-	public ConsumerEndpointFactoryBean(MessageHandler handler) {
+
+	public void setHandler(MessageHandler handler) {
 		Assert.notNull(handler, "handler must not be null");
-		this.handler = handler;
+		synchronized (this.handlerMonitor) {
+			Assert.isNull(this.handler, "handler cannot be overridden");
+			this.handler = handler;
+		}
 	}
 
 
diff --git a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/AbstractConsumerEndpointParser.java b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/AbstractConsumerEndpointParser.java
index 38de3d2b06..853e7e05d8 100644
--- a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/AbstractConsumerEndpointParser.java
+++ b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/AbstractConsumerEndpointParser.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2008 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2009 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractConsumerEndpointParser extends AbstractBeanDefinit
 		BeanDefinitionBuilder builder = BeanDefinitionBuilder.genericBeanDefinition(
 				IntegrationNamespaceUtils.BASE_PACKAGE + ".config.ConsumerEndpointFactoryBean");
 		String handlerBeanName = BeanDefinitionReaderUtils.registerWithGeneratedName(handlerBeanDefinition, parserContext.getRegistry());
-		builder.addConstructorArgReference(handlerBeanName);
+		builder.addPropertyReference("handler", handlerBeanName);
 		String inputChannelName = element.getAttribute(inputChannelAttributeName);
 		if (!parserContext.getRegistry().containsBeanDefinition(inputChannelName)) {
 			BeanDefinitionBuilder channelDef = BeanDefinitionBuilder.genericBeanDefinition(
diff --git a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/AbstractOutboundChannelAdapterParser.java b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/AbstractOutboundChannelAdapterParser.java
index 064751dc61..e866a634f1 100644
--- a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/AbstractOutboundChannelAdapterParser.java
+++ b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/AbstractOutboundChannelAdapterParser.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2008 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2009 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractOutboundChannelAdapterParser extends AbstractChann
 		Element pollerElement = DomUtils.getChildElementByTagName(element, "poller");
 		BeanDefinitionBuilder builder =  BeanDefinitionBuilder.genericBeanDefinition(
 				IntegrationNamespaceUtils.BASE_PACKAGE + ".config.ConsumerEndpointFactoryBean");
-		builder.addConstructorArgReference(this.parseAndRegisterConsumer(element, parserContext));
+		builder.addPropertyReference("handler", this.parseAndRegisterConsumer(element, parserContext));
 		if (pollerElement != null) {
 			if (!StringUtils.hasText(channelName)) {
 				parserContext.getReaderContext().error(
diff --git a/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/ConstructorAutowireTest-context.xml b/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/ConstructorAutowireTest-context.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..77d49ea5bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/ConstructorAutowireTest-context.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<b:beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration"
+	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+	xmlns:b="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
+	xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
+	xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-2.5.xsd
+    		http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration/spring-integration-1.0.xsd
+    		http://www.springframework.org/schema/context http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-2.5.xsd">
+
+	<context:annotation-config />
+
+	<channel id="input" />
+	<channel id="output" />
+
+	<b:bean id="service" class="org.springframework.integration.config.xml.ConstructorAutowireTest$TestService" />
+	<b:bean id="endpoint" class="org.springframework.integration.config.xml.ConstructorAutowireTest$TestEndpoint" />
+
+	<inbound-channel-adapter ref="endpoint" method="aProducer" channel="input">
+		<poller max-messages-per-poll="1">
+			<interval-trigger interval="300" time-unit="SECONDS" />
+		</poller>
+	</inbound-channel-adapter>
+
+	<splitter input-channel="input" output-channel="output" ref="endpoint" method="aSplitter" />
+
+	<service-activator input-channel="output" ref="endpoint" method="aConsumer"/>
+
+</b:beans>
diff --git a/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/ConstructorAutowireTest.java b/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/ConstructorAutowireTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2efa74f585
--- /dev/null
+++ b/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/ConstructorAutowireTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2002-2009 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.springframework.integration.config.xml;
+
+import java.util.List;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
+import org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext;
+
+/**
+ * @author Jim Moore
+ * @author Mark Fisher
+ */
+public class ConstructorAutowireTest {
+
+	@Test // INT-568
+	public void testApplicationContextCreation() {
+		new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("ConstructorAutowireTest-context.xml", ConstructorAutowireTest.class);
+	}
+
+
+	public static class TestService {
+		public String getVal() {
+			return "fooble";
+		}
+	}
+
+
+	public static class TestEndpoint {
+
+		private TestService service;
+
+		@Autowired
+		public TestEndpoint(TestService service) {
+			this.service = service;
+		}
+
+		public String aProducer() {
+			return this.service.getVal();
+		}
+
+		public void aConsumer(String str) {
+			// ignore
+		}
+
+		public List<String> aSplitter(List<String> strs) {
+			return strs;
+		}
+	}
+
+}