Definition of "ultramontanism" [ul•tra•mon•ta•nism]

• Roman Catholic Church The policy that absolute authority in the Church should be vested in the pope. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "In the first place, it is impossible to see intelligently to the bottom of the momentous spirit of ultramontanism, which is so deep a difficulty of continental Europe, and which, touching us in Ireland, is perhaps already one of our own deepest difficulties, without comprehending in its best shape the theory on which ultramontanism rests."
• ""ultramontanism" with his present state of feeling, which had been styled Gallicanism."
• ""ultramontanism", soon provoked among the students an agitation that ended in a general dispersion."