diff --git a/src/ksp.jl b/src/ksp.jl
index 86f1cc29..aa272152 100644
--- a/src/ksp.jl
+++ b/src/ksp.jl
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ LinearAlgebra.adjoint(ksp) = LinearAlgebra.Adjoint(ksp)
 @for_libpetsc begin
 
     function KSP{$PetscScalar}(comm::MPI.Comm; kwargs...)
-        initialize($PetscScalar)
+        @assert initialized($PetscScalar)
         opts = Options{$PetscScalar}(kwargs...)
         ksp = KSP{$PetscScalar}(C_NULL, comm, nothing, nothing, opts)
         @chk ccall((:KSPCreate, $libpetsc), PetscErrorCode, (MPI.MPI_Comm, Ptr{CKSP}), comm, ksp)
diff --git a/src/mat.jl b/src/mat.jl
index ce6ad622..4afbc9fb 100644
--- a/src/mat.jl
+++ b/src/mat.jl
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ end
 
 @for_libpetsc begin
     function MatSeqAIJ{$PetscScalar}(m::Integer, n::Integer, nnz::Vector{$PetscInt})
-        initialize($PetscScalar)
+        @assert initialized($PetscScalar)
         comm = MPI.COMM_SELF
         mat = MatSeqAIJ{$PetscScalar}(C_NULL, comm)
         @chk ccall((:MatCreateSeqAIJ, $libpetsc), PetscErrorCode,
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ end
         return mat
     end
     function MatSeqDense(A::Matrix{$PetscScalar})
-        initialize($PetscScalar)
+        @assert initialized($PetscScalar)
         comm = MPI.COMM_SELF
         mat = MatSeqDense(C_NULL, comm, A)
         @chk ccall((:MatCreateSeqDense, $libpetsc), PetscErrorCode, 
diff --git a/src/options.jl b/src/options.jl
index fbf77f9f..5dcf9399 100644
--- a/src/options.jl
+++ b/src/options.jl
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ scalartype(::Options{T}) where {T} = T
 
 @for_libpetsc begin
     function Options{$PetscScalar}()
-        initialize($PetscScalar)
+        @assert initialized($PetscScalar)
         opts = Options{$PetscScalar}(C_NULL)
         @chk ccall((:PetscOptionsCreate, $libpetsc), PetscErrorCode, (Ptr{CPetscOptions},), opts)
         finalizer(destroy, opts)
diff --git a/src/snes.jl b/src/snes.jl
index fde7d83a..014d1182 100644
--- a/src/snes.jl
+++ b/src/snes.jl
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ end
 @for_libpetsc begin
 
     function SNES{$PetscScalar}(comm::MPI.Comm; kwargs...)
-        initialize($PetscScalar)
+        @assert initialized($PetscScalar)
         opts = Options{$PetscScalar}(kwargs...)
         snes = SNES{$PetscScalar}(C_NULL, comm, opts, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing)
         @chk ccall((:SNESCreate, $libpetsc), PetscErrorCode, (MPI.MPI_Comm, Ptr{CSNES}), comm, snes)
@@ -157,4 +157,4 @@ end
 
 end
 
-solve!(x::AbstractVector{T}, snes::SNES{T}) where {T} = parent(solve!(AbstractVec(x), snes))
\ No newline at end of file
+solve!(x::AbstractVector{T}, snes::SNES{T}) where {T} = parent(solve!(AbstractVec(x), snes))
diff --git a/src/vec.jl b/src/vec.jl
index 7d640877..257fbbeb 100644
--- a/src/vec.jl
+++ b/src/vec.jl
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ Base.parent(v::AbstractVec) = v.array
 
 @for_libpetsc begin
     function VecSeq(comm::MPI.Comm, X::Vector{$PetscScalar}; blocksize=1)
-        initialize($PetscScalar)
+        @assert initialized($PetscScalar)
         v = VecSeq(C_NULL, comm, X)
         @chk ccall((:VecCreateSeqWithArray, $libpetsc), PetscErrorCode,
                 (MPI.MPI_Comm, $PetscInt, $PetscInt, Ptr{$PetscScalar}, Ptr{CVec}),
diff --git a/test/runtests.jl b/test/runtests.jl
index a22fd5f7..8fef3171 100644
--- a/test/runtests.jl
+++ b/test/runtests.jl
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 using Test
 using PETSc, MPI, LinearAlgebra, SparseArrays
+PETSc.initialize()
 
 @testset "Tests" begin
   m,n = 20,20