ULTRAMONTANISM. - A term of generic and imprecise meaning, coined and used beyond the Alps (France, Germany, England, the Netherlands) to designate, rather than a genuine current of thought, adherence to the orientations and conduct of the Roman Church in theological and jurisdictional matters, and also in political interests.
Thus, in those countries, Catholic writers, politicians, and ecclesiastical figures who followed such a line of conduct were called ultramontanes, as naturally were all Italians faithful to the teachings of the Holy See. The term ultramontanes was first applied to those citizens or religious who, in Germany, supported Gregory VII during the struggle over investitures. In the seventeenth century in France, the Jansenists and the regalists gave the same name to the jurists and theologians who opposed their doctrines. For the Josephinists, the Enlightenment thinkers, and the Febronians, their opponents too were ultramontanes. The term continued to be used during the nineteenth century by all liberals and non-Catholics who, in the religious sphere, followed new theories or adopted vexatious practical attitudes in their relations with Catholicism. Particularly during the debates held on the occasion of the Vatican Council, the supporters of papal infallibility were readily called ultramontanes.
Even today the use of this term has not disappeared from politico-religious polemics, always retaining a tone, if not of outright contempt, at least of discredit.