diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/auditing/config/AuditingHandlerBeanDefinitionParser.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/auditing/config/AuditingHandlerBeanDefinitionParser.java
index f3fb7f167..16223ef7d 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/auditing/config/AuditingHandlerBeanDefinitionParser.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/auditing/config/AuditingHandlerBeanDefinitionParser.java
@@ -28,10 +28,10 @@ import org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.ParserContext;
 import org.springframework.data.auditing.AuditingHandler;
 import org.springframework.data.config.ParsingUtils;
 import org.springframework.data.mapping.context.MappingContext;
+import org.springframework.data.repository.config.PersistentEntitiesFactoryBean;
 import org.springframework.lang.NonNull;
 import org.springframework.util.Assert;
 import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
-
 import org.w3c.dom.Element;
 
 /**
@@ -95,7 +95,8 @@ public class AuditingHandlerBeanDefinitionParser extends AbstractSingleBeanDefin
 	@Override
 	protected void doParse(Element element, BeanDefinitionBuilder builder) {
 
-		builder.addConstructorArgReference(mappingContextBeanName);
+		final BeanDefinitionBuilder persistentEntities = rootBeanDefinition(PersistentEntitiesFactoryBean.class);
+		builder.addConstructorArgValue(persistentEntities.getBeanDefinition());
 
 		String auditorAwareRef = element.getAttribute(AUDITOR_AWARE_REF);
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/repository/config/PersistentEntitiesFactoryBean.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/repository/config/PersistentEntitiesFactoryBean.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b04e60684
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/repository/config/PersistentEntitiesFactoryBean.java
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2021 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
+ *
+ *      https://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.data.repository.config;
+
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.FactoryBean;
+import org.springframework.data.mapping.context.MappingContext;
+import org.springframework.data.mapping.context.PersistentEntities;
+
+/**
+ * Factory been to create {@link PersistentEntities} from a {@link MappingContext}.
+ * 
+ * @author Jens Schauder
+ * @since 3.0
+ */
+public class PersistentEntitiesFactoryBean implements FactoryBean<PersistentEntities> {
+
+	private final MappingContext context;
+
+	/**
+	 * Creates a new {@link PersistentEntitiesFactoryBean} for the given {@link MappingContext}.
+	 *
+	 * @param context must not be {@literal null}.
+	 */
+	public PersistentEntitiesFactoryBean(MappingContext context) {
+		this.context = context;
+	}
+
+	/*
+	 * (non-Javadoc)
+	 * @see org.springframework.beans.factory.FactoryBean#getObject()
+	 */
+	@Override
+	public PersistentEntities getObject() {
+		return PersistentEntities.of(context);
+	}
+
+	/*
+	 * (non-Javadoc)
+	 * @see org.springframework.beans.factory.FactoryBean#getObjectType()
+	 */
+	@Override
+	public Class<?> getObjectType() {
+		return PersistentEntities.class;
+	}
+}