Protestant priest, poet, honorary member of Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
He was born in Tiszakürt (today Tiszakécske). He started studying in Ókécske, then he went to Kecskemét to study at the high-school of the Reformed Church for four years. Then he continued his studies at the Evangelical high-school in Szarvas, from which he graduated in 1882. After that he studied theology at the College of the Reformed Church in Debrecen. Later on he became member of the college, and also theologist, sworn student, teacher senior and academic divinity student. He was chaplain Mihály Könyves Tóth’s assistant minister in Debrecen.
He received a student’s grant and also got the support of the church to study for two years in the Vest. In Torino he visited Kossuth, then he went to the home of the Reformation (Geneva), then to Strassburg and Paris. On his return home, he was a chaplan in Debrecen, then in 1892 minister in Marosfelfalu (today Suseni, Romania). His first marriage was not successful. It was not for the first time when a teacher married his student. This was the case of Szabolcska, when in 1895 he married Etelka Korondi. They had three children.
When his first three poems were published in a magazine in Budapest in 1891, he was noticed. Zsolt Beöthy, an acknowledged conservative criticist welcomed him in an article. The aristocrats, who were conservatives but hungry for the new, were very enthusiastic about his poems. Finally there was a poet whose message did not go beyond the epigonism which idealised country life, nevertheless the tone of the poems were not epigonistic, but fresh. Three years later Ignotus said that his poems were rather simple. In spite of all the criticism, Szabolcska stuck to this simplicity. He made an ideal out of simplicity, not only in his poems but also in his life-style.
In 1898 the presbytery of the Reformed Church District in Temesvár nominated him for the position of minister because Zoltán Futó had left. He was inducted in January 1899 by archdeacon János Szabó, minister from Hódmezővásárhely. The induction took place in the ceremonial hall of the high-school for modern languages and sciences, which also served as a temporary oratory for the church. The school on Szerb Street (today Gh. Lazăr) hosted the believers for ten years, until in 1902 the new church was built. The building hosted the church and also apartments, which were rented in order to strengthen the financial situation of the congregation. Two years later, the former bishop of Debrecen died. The Bench of Ministers of the Reformed Church District of Békés-Bánát issued appeal to the ministers of the district to promote Mihály Szabolcska for the position of Bishop of Debrecen.
There was a lot of argument about his poems. He was criticised by Ady and Karinthy, but the enemies of the modern poetry stuck together and defended Szabolcska and praised his poems. He was elected president of the János Arany Literature Society, and became member of the Petőfi Society and of the prestigious Kisfaludy Society and honorary member of the Academy of Sciences. His most important volumes: Költemények – Poems (1891); Hangulatok – Moods (1894); Újabb versek – New Poems (1898); Szabad órák – Free Hours (1901); Áhítat és szeretet – Devotion and Love (1902); Csendes dalok – Silent Songs (1904); A magam ösvényén
– On My Path (1907); Dalok hazulról – Songs From Home (1911); Szívem szerint – Listening to My Heart (1916); Eszmények álmok-Ideals and Dreams (1921); Isten közelében – Close to God (1928); Őseim nyomán – Folowing My Ancestors (1928). His poems were translated in English German, French, Russian, Italian, etc. and were also set on music.
In 1921 in Nagyvárad (today Oradea, Romania) the Reformed Church District of Királyhágómellék (today Piatra Craiului, Romania) was founded. The first bishop was István Sulyok, and Szabolcska was the archdeacon of the Reformed Church District in Banat. In 1923 the Romanian king Ferdinand I together with prime-minister Ionel Brătianu visited the church in Temesvár. By 1924, Szabolcka had been the minister of the Reformed Church in Temesvár for 25 years. On this occasion a celebration was held, where Károly Nagy, bishop of the Reformed Church in Transylvania greeted Szabolcska.
In 1926 he resigned from his position as deacon of the Reformed Church District of Banat, and also from his position as a minister and retired. He was called to Budapest, but he did not like the life of the large city. He died suddenly in 1930, the burial ceremony was held in the hall of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
On the wall of the church in Timişoara a marble tablet was placed in his memory.
