diff --git a/dspace-spring-rest/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/rest/Application.java b/dspace-spring-rest/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/rest/Application.java
index 2b37ce14ce..41db8dda7d 100644
--- a/dspace-spring-rest/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/rest/Application.java
+++ b/dspace-spring-rest/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/rest/Application.java
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ import org.springframework.web.servlet.config.annotation.WebMvcConfigurerAdapter
  * @author Andrea Bollini (andrea.bollini at 4science.it)
  * @author Tim Donohue
  */
-@SpringBootApplication(exclude = VelocityAutoConfiguration.class)
+@SpringBootApplication
 public class Application extends SpringBootServletInitializer {
 
     private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(Application.class);
diff --git a/dspace-spring-rest/src/main/resources/application.properties b/dspace-spring-rest/src/main/resources/application.properties
index 7a5e5a0193..37883da3ed 100644
--- a/dspace-spring-rest/src/main/resources/application.properties
+++ b/dspace-spring-rest/src/main/resources/application.properties
@@ -85,12 +85,14 @@ server.error.include-stacktrace = always
 # * HibernateJpaAutoConfiguration (Hibernate ORM)
 # * FlywayAutoConfiguration (Flyway migrations)
 # * SolrAutoConfiguration (Solr)
+# * Velocity (email templating)
 #
 # TODO: At some point we may want to investigate whether we can re-enable these and remove the custom DSpace init code
 spring.autoconfigure.exclude=org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.jdbc.DataSourceAutoConfiguration, \
                              org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.orm.jpa.HibernateJpaAutoConfiguration, \
                              org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.flyway.FlywayAutoConfiguration, \
-                             org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.solr.SolrAutoConfiguration
+                             org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.solr.SolrAutoConfiguration, \
+                             org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.velocity.VelocityAutoConfiguration
 
 #########################
 # Spring Boot Logging levels