diff --git a/lib/SimpleSAML/Database.php b/lib/SimpleSAML/Database.php
index 719157ca7f84b903fa69652b4675edaef6f655a4..9feb2d6f2d9967c9916046ef7c8eac0e1355114d 100644
--- a/lib/SimpleSAML/Database.php
+++ b/lib/SimpleSAML/Database.php
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ class Database
     {
         $driverOptions = $config->getArray('database.driver_options', []);
         if ($config->getBoolean('database.persistent', true)) {
-            $driverOptions = [PDO::ATTR_PERSISTENT => true];
+            $driverOptions[PDO::ATTR_PERSISTENT] = true;
         }
 
         // connect to the master
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ class Database
                 'database.username'   => $config->getString('database.username', null),
                 'database.password'   => $config->getString('database.password', null),
                 'database.prefix'     => $config->getString('database.prefix', ''),
-                'database.persistent' => $config->getBoolean('database.persistent', false),
+                'database.persistent' => $config->getBoolean('database.persistent', true),
             ],
             'slaves' => $config->getArray('database.slaves', []),
         ];