Ultramontane Party

The ultra-Popish party in the Church of Rome. Ultramontane opinions or tendencies are those which favour the high “Catholic” party. Ultramontane (“beyond the Alps”) means Italy or the Papal States. The term was first used by the French, to distinguish those who look upon the Pope as the fountain of all power in the Church, in contradistinction to the Gallican school, which maintains the right of self-government by national churches. (See Tramontane.)