diff --git a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/annotations/HCANNHelper.java b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/annotations/HCANNHelper.java
index 4e872f4c3b..a3ff25d21f 100644
--- a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/annotations/HCANNHelper.java
+++ b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/annotations/HCANNHelper.java
@@ -6,12 +6,8 @@
  */
 package org.hibernate.cfg.annotations;
 
-import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
 import java.lang.reflect.Member;
-import java.lang.reflect.Method;
 
-import org.hibernate.AssertionFailure;
-import org.hibernate.HibernateException;
 import org.hibernate.annotations.common.reflection.XProperty;
 import org.hibernate.annotations.common.reflection.java.JavaXMember;
 
@@ -20,47 +16,35 @@ import org.hibernate.annotations.common.reflection.java.JavaXMember;
  *
  * @author Steve Ebersole
  */
-public class HCANNHelper {
-	private static Method getMemberMethod;
-	static {
-		// The following is in a static block to avoid problems lazy-initializing
-		// and making accessible in a multi-threaded context. See HHH-11289.
-		final Class<?> javaXMemberClass = JavaXMember.class;
-		try {
-			getMemberMethod = javaXMemberClass.getDeclaredMethod( "getMember" );
-			// NOTE : no need to check accessibility here - we know it is protected
-			getMemberMethod.setAccessible( true );
-		}
-		catch (NoSuchMethodException e) {
-			throw new AssertionFailure(
-					"Could not resolve JavaXMember#getMember method in order to access XProperty member signature",
-					e
-			);
-		}
-		catch (Exception e) {
-			throw new HibernateException( "Could not access org.hibernate.annotations.common.reflection.java.JavaXMember#getMember method", e );
-		}
-	}
+public final class HCANNHelper {
 
+	/**
+	 * @deprecated Prefer using {@link #annotatedElementSignature(JavaXMember)}
+	 */
+	@Deprecated
 	public static String annotatedElementSignature(XProperty xProperty) {
 		return getUnderlyingMember( xProperty ).toString();
 	}
 
+	public static String annotatedElementSignature(final JavaXMember jxProperty) {
+		return getUnderlyingMember( jxProperty ).toString();
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @deprecated Prefer using {@link #getUnderlyingMember(JavaXMember)}
+	 */
+	@Deprecated
 	public static Member getUnderlyingMember(XProperty xProperty) {
-		try {
-			return (Member) getMemberMethod.invoke( xProperty );
+		if (xProperty instanceof JavaXMember) {
+			JavaXMember jx = (JavaXMember)xProperty;
+			return jx.getMember();
 		}
-		catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
-			throw new AssertionFailure(
-					"Could not resolve member signature from XProperty reference",
-					e
-			);
-		}
-		catch (InvocationTargetException e) {
-			throw new AssertionFailure(
-					"Could not resolve member signature from XProperty reference",
-					e.getCause()
-			);
+		else {
+			throw new org.hibernate.HibernateException( "Can only extract Member from a XProperty which is a JavaXMember" );
 		}
 	}
+
+	public static Member getUnderlyingMember(final JavaXMember jxProperty) {
+		return jxProperty.getMember();
+	}
 }