diff --git a/lib/web/auth/saml/index.js b/lib/web/auth/saml/index.js
index 4d0bfec52..c984751c2 100644
--- a/lib/web/auth/saml/index.js
+++ b/lib/web/auth/saml/index.js
@@ -16,8 +16,21 @@ passport.use(new SamlStrategy({
   callbackUrl: config.serverURL + '/auth/saml/callback',
   entryPoint: config.saml.idpSsoUrl,
   issuer: config.saml.issuer || config.serverURL,
-  cert: fs.readFileSync(config.saml.idpCert, 'utf-8'),
-  privateCert: config.saml.clientCert === undefined ? undefined : fs.readFileSync(config.saml.clientCert, 'utf-8'),
+  privateCert: config.saml.clientCert === undefined ? undefined : (function () {
+    try {
+      return fs.readFileSync(config.saml.clientCert, 'utf-8')
+    } catch (e) {
+      logger.error('saml client certificate not found at: ' + config.saml.clientCert)
+    }
+  }()),
+  cert: (function () {
+    try {
+      return fs.readFileSync(config.saml.idpCert, 'utf-8')
+    } catch (e) {
+      logger.error('saml idp certificate not found at: ' + config.saml.idpCert)
+      process.exit(1)
+    }
+  }()),
   identifierFormat: config.saml.identifierFormat,
   disableRequestedAuthnContext: config.saml.disableRequestedAuthnContext
 }, function (user, done) {