public class MyServletContextListener implements ServletContextListener {
    
    @Override
    public void contextInitialized(ServletContextEvent sce) {
        initVelocity();
    }
 
    @Override
    public void contextDestroyed(ServletContextEvent sce) {
    }
    
    private void initVelocity() {
        try {
            Properties p = new Properties();
            p.setProperty("resource.loader", "file");
            p.setProperty("class.resource.loader.class", "org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.loader.FileResourceLoader");
            p.setProperty("file.resource.loader.path", "ПУТЬ К /WEB-INF/vel_template");
            Velocity.init(p);
        } catch (Exception ex) {
            throw new IllegalStateException("InitVelocity error!");
        }
    }
}