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Until the 19th century one did not speak of “Ultramontanism” but of “Ultramontanes,” a term that designated those defenders of that conception of the papacy that was current on the other side of the Alps and that Gallicanism opposed. The modern variant has taken on an abstract and ideological aspect revealed in various forms of behavior. The common factor in the different forms of Ultramontanism, contrasting with nationalist views, is the desire for an absolute fidelity at the heart of Catholicity, a concern that inspires the defense not only of Roman prerogatives or a pyramidal ecclesiology* but of a certain form of supranational Catholic (Catholicism*) identity. In this sense it represents a resistance to the rise of the modern states and a defense of an ideal of Christianity. In addition, its emotional conception of religion was destined to facilitate the Christianization of the masses. And from that angle, the continuity is greater than generally admitted between the “Romanism” encountered under the old monarchy and the Ultramontanism of modern times.