Commentary Purg XI 4-6

Giacalone (DDP Giacalone.Purg.XI.4-6) was perhaps the first Italian commentator to point out that Dante's phrasing here ('laudato sia' [let your name be praised]... 'da ogne creatura' [by every creature]) is not a translation from the Gospels but rather reflects the refrain of Francis of Assisi's Laudes creaturarum.  Stierle  (Stie.2001.1), p. 159, cites Gmelin's commentary to this tercet (Gmel.1955.1) for 'Laudato sie, mi' Signore, con tucte le tue creature' as reason for Dante's deformation of the Beatitude here.  Bosco/Reggio (DDP Bosco.Purg.XI.2-6; DDP Bosco.Purg.XI.4-6) also point this out with some insistence, apparently unaware of Gmelin's or Giacalone's earlier observations.  For possible earlier citations by Dante of Francis's poem see C.Inf.I.26-27.

      There is debate as to whether or not the Father is addressed as the Trinity or as Himself.  Those who take the former position have apparent support in the word vapore (breath), which is often the sign of the Holy Spirit.  Here, as some commentators, beginning with Lombardi (DDP Lombardi.Purg.XI.6), believe, Dante is thinking along the lines found in Wisdom (7:25) where wisdom is described as 'vapor... virtutis Dei' (aura of the power of God).  Since the prayer is, indeed, the Paternoster, it is only natural that it be addressed to the Father, with whatever (inevitable) trinitarian overtones.