Antoine de Paule

Fra' Antoine de Paule (c. 1551 – 1636) was elected as the 56th Grand Master of the Order of Malta on 10 March 1623 and he died in Malta on 9 June 1636. He died 85 years old after a long illness. His epitaph notes him as a leader who both was loved and loved his subjects. It is said that he made more resources available to the Order, and in that way strengthened it. He also made an effort out of fortifying the ramparts that the Order had set up for defense. However, he was not without his enemies; some of which presented a memorial to the pope Urban VIII describing de Paule as "a man of loose life and conversation", "guilty of simony", and as having "bought his dignity with money". Antoine de Paule sent a delegate to the Vatican, who dealt with these scrupulous rumors.

The Grandmaster's responsibilities included such matters as: acting as a judge when a once-captured ship is re-captured and the original owner claims the ship; deciding whether to release a galley rower of a captured privateering vessel who was himself earlier captured by the privateers and forced to row; as well as appointing abbots and priors for various positions.

The town of Paola is named after the grandmaster, after he laid its foundation stone in 1626.