What is meant by "he who is wrapped in purple robes" in "The Ballad of Father Gilligan"?

This section of the poem comes in the final stanza, as
Father Gilligan kneels to worship his God who has helped him so much by allowing one of
his parishioners to die in peace without the need for him to be at his side. The poem
presents us with Father Gilligan, who is overwhelmed by his job and the needs of the
people in his parish, and feels exhausted and that his job his hopeless. How can one man
possibly hope to meet the needs of all his dying parishioners? As he contemplates this,
he falls asleep, and wakes up to find that one of his parishioners has died during his
nap. Filled with remorse, he rushes to the house to be told that the man died "as happy
as a bird" in spite of his absence. The poem therefore ends with this stanza, which
affirms the love that God has for all of his creation, including Father Gilligan, and
the way that we can trust in Him when we reach the end of our own strength and
resources:

'He
Who is wrapped in purple robes,
With planets in His care,
Had pity
on the least of things
Asleep upon a
chair.'

The figure "wrapped
in purple robes" is a conventional depiction of God. We normally associate the colour
purple with nobility, and so it is that it is God who has "planets in His care" and is
"wrapped in purple robes." But note of course the distinction that is made in this final
stanza. Even though God is so powerful and mighty, looking after planets, he still shows
love towards "the least of things."