Where is BeanFactoryPostProcessor in creation sequence?

[cmgharris]

I am curious to understand the exact sequence of events in creating a BeanFactory (or ApplicationContext) and where BeanFactoryPostProcessor fits in.

The ref document says the purpose of a BeanFactoryPostProcessor is

to apply changes of some sort to an entire BeanFactory, after it has been constructed.

but I'm not sure what 'constructed' means in this context.

I have written a BeanFactoryPostProcessor that initializes some static fields in a class that my application uses (see http://forum.springframework.org/showthread.php?t=17350)

If any objects of this class were instantiated in the course of building the factory, it would be important that this initialization took place first. In the (limited) experimentation I've done, this seems to be so.

Is this the case? Do BeanFactoryPostProcessors run before the instantiation of any beans? In which case, what does 'construction' of the bean factory mean?
In other words, what does the 'Post' in BeanFactoryPostProcessor refer to?