diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index fe0eccf25..c4c9968bf 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -169,20 +169,9 @@
       <version>1.10.1</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
-      <groupId>commons-digester</groupId>
-      <artifactId>commons-digester</artifactId>
-      <version>2.1</version>
-      <!-- exclude older version and use declared-only -->
-      <exclusions>
-        <exclusion>
-          <groupId>commons-beanutils</groupId>
-          <artifactId>commons-beanutils</artifactId>
-        </exclusion>
-        <exclusion>
-          <groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
-          <artifactId>commons-logging</artifactId>
-        </exclusion>
-      </exclusions>
+      <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
+      <artifactId>commons-digester3</artifactId>
+      <version>3.2</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/validator/FormSetFactory.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/validator/FormSetFactory.java
index 34a544fe3..81e11e4db 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/validator/FormSetFactory.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/validator/FormSetFactory.java
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
  */
 package org.apache.commons.validator;
 
-import org.apache.commons.digester.AbstractObjectCreationFactory;
+import org.apache.commons.digester3.AbstractObjectCreationFactory;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.xml.sax.Attributes;
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
  *
  * @since 1.2
  */
-public class FormSetFactory extends AbstractObjectCreationFactory {
+public class FormSetFactory extends AbstractObjectCreationFactory<FormSet> {
 
     /** Logging */
     private transient Log log = LogFactory.getLog(FormSetFactory.class);
@@ -89,9 +89,9 @@ private FormSet createFormSet(final ValidatorResources resources,
      * @throws Exception If an error occurs creating the FormSet.
      */
     @Override
-    public Object createObject(final Attributes attributes) throws Exception {
+    public FormSet createObject(final Attributes attributes) throws Exception {
 
-        final ValidatorResources resources = (ValidatorResources) digester.peek(0);
+        final ValidatorResources resources = (ValidatorResources) getDigester().peek(0);
 
         final String language = attributes.getValue("language");
         final String country = attributes.getValue("country");
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/validator/ValidatorResources.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/validator/ValidatorResources.java
index b9a7fca41..925d0bf2b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/validator/ValidatorResources.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/validator/ValidatorResources.java
@@ -25,9 +25,10 @@
 import java.util.Map;
 
 import org.apache.commons.collections.FastHashMap; // DEPRECATED
-import org.apache.commons.digester.Digester;
-import org.apache.commons.digester.Rule;
-import org.apache.commons.digester.xmlrules.DigesterLoader;
+import org.apache.commons.digester3.Digester;
+import org.apache.commons.digester3.Rule;
+import org.apache.commons.digester3.binder.DigesterLoader;
+import org.apache.commons.digester3.xmlrules.FromXmlRulesModule;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.xml.sax.Attributes;
@@ -557,15 +558,23 @@ public Map<String, ValidatorAction> getValidatorActions() {
      *  Initialize the digester.
      */
     private Digester initDigester() {
-        URL rulesUrl = this.getClass().getResource(VALIDATOR_RULES);
-        if (rulesUrl == null) {
-            // Fix for Issue# VALIDATOR-195
-            rulesUrl = ValidatorResources.class.getResource(VALIDATOR_RULES);
-        }
-        if (getLog().isDebugEnabled()) {
-            getLog().debug("Loading rules from '" + rulesUrl + "'");
-        }
-        final Digester digester = DigesterLoader.createDigester(rulesUrl);
+        // Create a digester loader using FromXmlRulesModule
+        DigesterLoader loader = DigesterLoader.newLoader(new FromXmlRulesModule() {
+            @Override
+            protected void loadRules() {
+              URL rulesUrl = this.getClass().getResource(VALIDATOR_RULES);
+              if (rulesUrl == null) {
+                // Fix for Issue# VALIDATOR-195
+                rulesUrl = ValidatorResources.class.getResource(VALIDATOR_RULES);
+              }
+              if (getLog().isDebugEnabled()) {
+                getLog().debug("Loading rules from '" + rulesUrl + "'");
+              }
+              loadXMLRules(rulesUrl);
+            }
+        });
+        Digester digester = loader.newDigester();
+
         digester.setNamespaceAware(true);
         digester.setValidating(true);
         digester.setUseContextClassLoader(true);
diff --git a/src/main/resources/org/apache/commons/validator/digester-rules.xml b/src/main/resources/org/apache/commons/validator/digester-rules.xml
index 8647f7941..b35384a94 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/org/apache/commons/validator/digester-rules.xml
+++ b/src/main/resources/org/apache/commons/validator/digester-rules.xml
@@ -22,8 +22,8 @@
 -->
 
 
-<!DOCTYPE digester-rules PUBLIC "-//Jakarta Apache //DTD digester-rules XML V1.0//EN" 
-    "http://jakarta.apache.org/commons/digester/dtds/digester-rules.dtd">
+<!DOCTYPE digester-rules PUBLIC "-//Apache Commons //DTD digester-rules XML V1.0//EN" 
+    "http://commons.apache.org/digester/dtds/digester-rules-3.0.dtd">
 
 <digester-rules>